worst owner ever

[oscargamblesfro]

what team owner is the worst ever? by worst, i mean which owner has done the most damage to the game in general, and/or his or her team. not someone stuck with a bad club for years. it doesn't matter whether the team was successful or not. some of the possible choices, feel free to add others:

andrew freedman
george steinbrenner
harry frazee
charles o. finley
marge schott

[Joltin' Joe]

Harry Frazee hands down!

[Brian McKenna]

The Phillies had the only two owners barred from the game:

William Cox and Horace Fogel

[oscargamblesfro]

by worst, i mean conduct that harmed the integrity of the game, worst lack of character, outrageous treatment of players and rules, etc...i.e. who is the worst person to own a major league franchise?

[Joltin' Joe]

by worst, i mean conduct that harmed the integrity of the game, worst lack of character, outrageous treatment of players and rules, etc...i.e. who is the worst person to own a major league franchise?

If you put it that way, Comiskey.

[Brian McKenna]

I don't see what Comiskey did to make himself stand out. People always want to blame the man for their problems. It is a cop out to blame Comiskey in any way shape or form for the tainted World Series. He conducted business very similar to those before and after him. You want to highlight someone, dig out the 19th century books and pick those that emulated the robber barons and their complete disregard for labor.

[Joltin' Joe]

I don't see what Comiskey did to make himself stand out. People always want to blame the man for their problems. It is a cop out to blame Comiskey in any way shape or form for the tainted World Series. He conducted business very similar to those before and after him. You want to highlight someone, dig out the 19th century books and pick those that emulated the robber barons and their complete disregard for labor.

I based my opinion on Comiskey on all the books I have read. But you're probably right about 19th century owners. Afterall they came up with the reserve clause and presented it as if it was some sort of a prestige award.

[oscargamblesfro]

well, what i always find hypocritical about comiskey is that he was a former player. other than the phillies guys mentioned above,whom i've never heard of, all of the others mentioned so far were non-players. without getting into the whole 1919 thing, on the one hand, it's very surprising that a former player's rights guy like comiskey, who i think was one of the ringleaders of the player's league, was such a cheap ass...on the other hand, some of the biggest exploiters and or tightwads and biggest hypocrites, in sports, music, etc. are former athletes/ performers themselves...

[Brian McKenna]

I think it is good to discuss those "I've never heard of." Too many speak only of the big names. For example, Pat Moran has more World Series titles than Tony LaRussa.

[oscargamblesfro]

was fogel a former player? the name sounds vaguely familiar...

[Brian McKenna]

He was a sportswriter and some how got a manager's job with Indianapolis in 1897 and the Giants in 1902 before McGraw.

[Ursa Major]

Peter Angelo of the Orioles. His only saving grace is that he ran the best baseball announcer this side of Vin Scully out of town, and the Giants got him.

Finley is a tough call. He was a drunken, bullying tightwad who chased his best players from the team. But, he was an innovator in the Bill Veeck mode who really broke through the stuffiness of the game -- designated hitters and runners, colored balls, wild uniforms, facial hair on players, ballgirls in hotpants, and Billyball (i.e., wild baserunning that launched Rickey Henderson's career).

[Brian McKenna]

I love the Oscar Gamble Afro user name it reminds me of collecting baseball cards when I was a kid

[hellborn]

How about Chris von der Ahe of the St. Louis Browns?
Wasn't he totally ignorant, encouraging of umpire abuse, disdainful of his players, and involved in shady collusion behind the scenes?

[Brian McKenna]

von der Ahe definitely

also might want to note:
Arthur Soden
John Davidson
and a host of others that sparked the formation of the Players League

By the way, players who became owners were never benevolent: Spalding, Comiskey, Griffith, Monte Ward and others had little regard for the help. It is how business was conducted until the labor movement.

The players never had an effective voice until Marvin Miller. Landis always liked to tout himself as a players' commish but that is just because they were scared of him and brought few problems his way.