Thursday, April 21, 2011
Asssociated Press
NEW YORK
Major League Baseball is taking the extraordinary step of assuming control of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team increasingly paralyzed by its owners’ bitter divorce.
Once among baseball’s glamour franchises, the Dodgers have been consumed by infighting since Jamie McCourt filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage in October 2009, one week after her husband fired her as the team’s chief executive. Frank McCourt accused Jamie of having an affair with her bodyguard-driver and performing poorly at work.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig told Frank McCourt on Wednesday he will appoint a trustee to oversee all aspects of the business and the day-to-day operations of the club. At the same time, Frank McCourt was preparing to sue MLB, a baseball executive familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
“I have taken this action because of my deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers and to protect the best interests of the club,” Selig said in a statement.
A person familiar with Selig’s thinking said the commissioner may choose to force a sale.
“I consider it a sad day for baseball and a sad day for the Dodgers,” general manager Ned Colletti said.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had his 50th birthday Wednesday. He said he saw the news on television and then Colletti talked to the team.
“It’s hard to imagine it would happen somewhere like the Dodgers, but there’s crazy stuff going on everywhere. You’re seeing monster major banks going down, so obviously it can happen,” Mattingly said before the game against Atlanta at Dodger Stadium.
Baseball officials could not recall another instance in modern times when the commissioner seized control of a team from its owner. Before Tom Hicks sold the Texas Rangers last year, Selig appointed John McHale Jr. to monitor the Rangers but technically left Hicks in charge of the franchise while McHale worked behind the scenes.
Even when suspending George Steinbrenner from the Yankees in 1990 and forcing Marge Schott to sell her controlling interest in the Cincinnati Reds in 1999, the commissioner’s office allowed the owners to choose their successors as the controlling executive.
Selig said he will appoint his representative within a few days. Former Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals chief executive Stan Kasten is a possible candidate.
MLB Executive Vice President McHale is another possibility as is Corey Busch. Busch, a former Giants executive vice president, helped negotiate the McCourts’ acquisition of the Dodgers.