March 15, 2007
Kuhn Passes
Bowie Kuhn died today. My thoughts go out to his family and friends as they grieve their loss.
I'm no fan of the former commissioner, however. Kuhn let his personal animosity toward Charlie Finley get the better of him as he stopped the A's owner from selling three of his stars for big money instead of losing them to free agency. Finely could have used the money to rebuild his club, but instead just saw the players leave with no compensation. That confrontation brought about the rule that the commissioner has to approve cash transactions over a million dollars. It limited teams ability to realize value from their best players.
It was done in the name of the fans, that keeping the stars in Oakland the most important thing. But of course, without the cash, Finley couldn't afford to keep them around. It was a bad decision made for the wrong reason.
Posted by David Pinto at
04:54 PM
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David, I don't know how old you are but in 1976 when Finley tried to sell his star players for cash, most of the fans and media agreed with Bowie Kuhn for vetoing the transaction. There was no prescedent for purging your team of stars with the purpose in mind of rebuilding your team with prospects. The whole Free Agency business was in its infancey. Finley's history was that he would sell his stars and pocket the money. He was a bad owner for baseball. I'm sure that looking at the situation in 2007 makes it easy to critize Bowie Kuhn for blocking Finley but at the time most agreed that Kuhn was doing the right thing.
I'm not saying that Kuhn was faultless. His handling of the Mays & Mantle situation was handled poorly. However, I agree with what he did. Willie & Mickey had no place associating with the low class gambling.
RGR
Peter Gammons said something interesting about Kuhn: he was caught between two eras. He had the almost-impossible job of managing the biggest transition in baseball history, the onset of free agency. He had to try to steer baseball into the new era while mollifying the owners, who were accustomed to absolute power and absolutely dead-set against free agency and a players' union with clout. And bear in mind that, although the commissioner is responsible for the entire game, he serves at the pleasure of the owners. Generally, Kuhn did a decent job under extremely difficult circumstances.
Kuhn turned his back on his Takoma Park, Maryland upbringing in allowing Carpetbagger Bob Short to move the second Wash Senators to Dallas in 1972. He said that WASHDC didn't deserve a team, yet WASHDC outdrew Dallas in attendance for years. How would Kuhn have liked it if his original Senators moved in the 30s/40s and left him without baseball while he was growing up. He cheated a generation of DC youngsters of a home team.
Rambo above says no precedent for Finley selling off his stars in 1976. What does he think Connie Mack did in the depression 1930s. Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons, Jimmie Dykes, Mickey Cochrane, they all left the Phila As.
Kuhn's handling of Mantle and Mays are quite a contrast today. Today, you hardly find a ballpark without a billboard for a nearby casino. Several years ago, several members of the '78 Red Sox were at Foxwoods casino in CT signing autographs.
