A big hello to baseball`s newest mogul, Robert Nederlander, who has succeeded the banished George Steinbrenner as the major domo of the New York Yankees. The owners gave Nederlander their approval at their quarterly meeting in Pittsburgh last Wednesday after he had submitted to a 20-minute question-answer session with Commissioner Fay Vincent, among others.
Vincent surfaced with words of praise for Nederlander, whose previous experience has been in the theatrical business. Vincent reported Nederlander got a high grade, that he made all the correct responses. Later that night, while the Mets were playing the Pirates in Shea Stadium, a veteran and knowledgeable New York baseball writer expressed disbelief.
”This guy knows nothing about baseball,” the reporter said. ”How can they let him run the Yankees?”
What my colleague was forgetting is that all an owner, any owner, must understand is how to read a financial statement. He doesn`t have to know when to hit-and-run, squeeze or make a pitching change. His primary assignment is to try for a balanced budget and, if possible, finish with a profit so the shareholders receive a return on their investment.
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Once anointed Nederlander said: ”I believe in letting baseball people make decisions when it comes to baseball. Naturally, we will discuss and review it. When you hire experts, you listen to them. If you don`t, you shouldn`t hire them.”
Where have we heard that before?
Still, not all owners are stupid. Once inside the inside, they pick it up. For example, Charlie Finley, when he first bought into the grand old game, hired the late Frank Lane as his general manager. The same Frank Lane who, in the late 1940s and early `50s, rebuilt the White Sox into a fiery contender, a monumental achievement.
Time passed. Finley, who sold the old Saturday Evening Post as a boy and health insurance as an adult, watched and listened. One or two seasons later, Finley decided he was as smart, or smarter, than the colorful Frantic Frankie. Lane was dismissed. Finley became his own general manager, his own farm director and scouting director. He made the deals, signed free agents and built a dynasty. The result: five consecutive divisional titles and three world championships.
Finley operated out of his hat. He didn`t have more than a half-dozen full-time employees, one secretary included. I don`t think he had more than one or two scouts. What he did was pick everybody`s brains. He was constantly calling around, asking about players.
A couple of times he even called me. I never have mentioned it before, but there was a day when I was with the Cubs in spring training, in Mesa, Ariz., either 1965 or `66. When the phone rang I was in my motel room, on my bed, staring intently at the ceiling.
Bill Faul, a Cub pitcher who also dabbled in hypnotism, was trying to put me under. I suggested the idea to Faul and planned to do a story on what it was like being under Faul`s spell.
Finley wanted to know about Ted Abernathy, then one of the Cubs` relief pitchers. How did Abernathy look? Was his arm OK? Was he a good guy on a club? All the routine questions.
It was a long call, 12-15 minutes, and destroyed my story idea. Finley had broken the spell. I remember Faul`s reaction. Surprised, he said, ”Do all the owners call you like that?”
I told him no, only Finley.
When his group bought the Yankees in 1973, the exiled Steinbrenner said this at his first press conference:
”I won`t be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all. I`ve spread myself so thin. I`ve got enough headaches with my shipbuilding company.”
King George, of course, became the greatest hands-on owner of our time. He changed managers almost every season, sometimes two or three times in the same season. Except for the very beginning, he never had a general manager he couldn`t control.
And what happened during Steinbrenner`s reign? The Yankees won more games in the `80s than any other big-league club.
While in New York this past week, I asked an old friend, a broadcaster, why Steinbrenner had been banned from baseball. Precisely, what was his crime? ”He was very disliked,” my friend replied.
I told him that being disliked was not sufficient cause for exile. Anyway, that`s another story.
Of all recent owners, Calvin Griffith was the most knowledgeable. Griffith had been a minor-league catcher. He understood all of the strategical subtleties. Two hours after the game he could not only recite the complete play-by-play but could recall what pitches the hitters hit, or missed.
Griffith ran the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins for almost half a century. Yet, his teams won only one pennant, in 1965, when the Yankee dynasty finally collapsed.
Like Griffith, two of the current owners, Peter O`Malley of Los Angeles and Bill Giles of Philadelphia, grew up in baseball. Peter`s father, Walter, was a dynamo, the owner of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. Giles` daddy, Warren, was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, and later served a lengthy and honorable term as the National League president.
So far as I know, Peter O`Malley never has impressed anyone with his on-the-field expertise. He may not know the difference between the hit-and-run and run-and-hit. But, like his father, he knows how to show a profit. Probably no owner in all baseball history has made as much money.
Bill Giles, more than likely, has a better knowledge of the game. When he was younger he often caught batting practice. As for his Phillies, they`re still struggling, in fifth place in the National League East.
Jerry Reinsdorf, the White Sox chairman, grew up in Brooklyn, on East 18th Street, the same block where Duke Snider lived. Snider, then a star with the Dodgers, sometimes played stickball with Reinsdorf & Friends.
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But it was Reinsdorf, not the Duke, who ascended into baseball`s ownership wing. In 1983, in Reinsdorf`s third year at the helm, the White Sox won a division championship. It was beginner`s luck. Reinsdorf has since gone through three general managers-Roland Hemond, Ken Harrelson and Larry Himes, who departed Saturday.
So good luck to Robert Nederlander. If he keeps his vow and doesn`t interfere, the Yankees may rise again. Either way, there is no guarantee.