pete@umcp-cs.UUCP (Pete Cottrell) (05/04/85)
Here is a bit of a followup to my previous posting supporting another
team for Washington. First, a truism: if you want to attract fans to the
park, you must have a quality product, or at least *sometimes* have a
quality product; I realize that there can be lean years. But with the
Senators, there were always lean years. They won their only World Series
in 1925, their last pennant in 1933, and from 1947 to 1968, no Senator
team finished higher than 5th in an 8-, and then 10-team league. In 1969,
though, the Senators got their act somewhat together. They finished 4th,
10 games over .500. Their attendance for 75 dates was 918,106 , which is
more than the Twins have drawn in 9 of their last 13 years, and more than
the Rangers drew their first 2 years after leaving Washington.
1969 was indeed a wondrous year as we got a taste of a winner; the
All-Star game was held in D.C. for Baseball's centennial, Ted Williams had
even the weakest Nats' bats hitting, and Hondo was having a banner year (the
applause after his home run in the All-Star game shook the Stadium in the
best tradition of the loudest Redskins victory).
Things soon soured, however. Bob Short took an active
participation in day-to-day club affairs and alienated the fans. He raised
ticket prices to the point that they were the highest in baseball, and his
(I repeat, *his*) trades were disastrous; I still think of the Denny McLain
trade as one of the alltime worst in history (I know, I know, it's any
owner's perogative to run his franchise into the ground, but we don't
have to like it). Still, attendance was 824,789.
In 1971, things got progressively worse. It was revealed that Short
had been witholding stadium rental payments since the end of the 1969
season, claiming he needed a better agreement to survive. He announced that
the club was for sale for $12 million, after paying $7.9 million for his
90% share of the club. In June, the Armory Board (stadium administrators)
threatened to black out the stadium on July 14th due to an outstanding bill
of more than $100,000 for rent and light bills; Short threatened to play his
games in the day time at a high school field. The AL owners held a secret
meeting to discuss the situation in Washington, and rumors began to be
heard about a possible move. At the regularly-scheduled August meetings,
new ownership of the club was openly talked of. On August 19th, the Armory
Board announced concessions to Short in an effort to keep the club in town.
Effective 1972, the Senators could have the stadium rent-free for the first
million admissions, Short had the right to choose the concessionaire himself
and he could operate the concession stands during both the baseball and
football seasons; he would also receive about $30,000 from stadium and
billboard advertising. His request for keeping parking revenues was
denied.
Short rejected the plan as coming too late, but said he would accept
it if his outstanding bill of over $178,000 was forgiven. This was refused.
Bowie Kuhn got involved in things at this point, trying to find
corporate ownership for the club. A meeting was called on September 21st
to discuss transfer of the club to Dallas. One last shot at a purchase of
the club by a Washington area businessman fell through when it was
revealed his financing was not firmly settled. The owners wanted to avoid
a repeat of Short's situation; it was revealed that he had bought the
Senators mostly on credit (indeed, some economists claimed that Short's
equity position in the Senators was only $1000. Part of Short's financial
problems was the fact he was paying $700,000 annual interest on his loans).
When no local buyer was found, Short finally got a 10-2 tally on the second
vote. Interestingly enough, Baltimore was one of the 2 clubs against the move.
It was soon revealed that Short had a $7.5 million, 10-year TV-Radio
contract with the Arlington Park Corporation, which was the municipal
non-profit organization that ran Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The
contract was paid in full in advance, the bill footed by the taxpayer. Short
stayed in Texas a few years, firing Ted Williams and dealing off Frank Howard
before selling the club. Short later lost an election for governor in his home
state of Minnesota, and died, I believe, in early 80s.
The final home game, the final Senators game, was played on Sept.
30th against the Yankees. Banners condemning Short were carried by fans,
and Short was hung in effigy. Frank Howard hit a final home run to drive
the fans wild, and then with the Senators ahead 7-5 and with 2 outs in
the ninth, the fans came on the field. The result was a 9-0 forfeit.
The final attendance figure for the Nats was 655,156, a drop of
169,633 from 1970; not bad considering that the Senators were a lame-duck
club and were pretty much devoid of talent. It is worth noting that only
4 AL clubs drew over a million fans that year. The Oakland A's, who easily
won the AL West, drew only 914,993, and the San Diego Padres drew only
557,513. I don't have exact figures, but I am sure that during the mid
70s some bad clubs such as the SF bay-area teams and the Padres drew
under a half million. Also keep in mind that attendance totals of this era
should not be compared with those of today; baseball is currently in the
middle of an unprecedented level of popularity and seems to set new records
each year.
I am indebted to the 1972 Sporting News Baseball Guide for many of
the facts mentioned here. I lived thru it all, but did need some reference.
Another good source is a book entitled 'Kiss it Goodbye' by Shelby
Whitfield, who was one of the Senators' broadcasters at this time. He
discusses the series of events from an insider's point of view, and describes
the difficulty of working for Short. One particular point I remember from
the book and that I can substantiate from listening to the games, is Short's
insistence that the announcers continously say, up to the 5th inning,
"...and the fans are still filing into their seats. If you're driving by
the stadium, why not stop in...".
As you may have noticed, I am no Bob Short fan. Not everything
stated here is a condemnation of him, and some things mentioned may not
seem out of the ordinary, or are mentioned solely as a matter of record.
But when one considers the big picture (encompassing facts that are not
presented here), the overwhelming opinion is that Short bought the club
with the sole intention of milking it and then moving it. Short was a
real wheeler-dealer businessman and had previously moved the NBA Lakers
from Minneapolis to LA and then sold out.
Time for a final major point: The original Senators were allowed
to move to Minnesota in a simultaneous agreement that placed an expansion
team in D.C. to replace them, so it is wrong to cite this as an example
of Washington losing a team and 'being given a second chance'. For my
money, Washington has accommodated one owner and been victimized by
another, and now finds itself, as a charter member of the AL, having to
compete with a bunch of less-deserving cities for yet another expansion
team. If there is any justice in the baseball world, RFK stadium will
soon be shared by the Redskins and a new National League team.
--
Call-Me: Pete Cottrell, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Dept.
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!pete
CSNet: pete@umcp-cs
ARPA: pete@marylanddavid@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (05/07/85)
Nice article by Pete Cotrell. Ok, so my throw-away comment on
Washington baseball was made in ignorance. We all make mistakes...
David Rubin
{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david