Found: two major-league owners who say they will vote for “what’s best for baseball” and not necessarily what’s best for their team.
As can be expected, they are comparative newcomers, Vince Naimoli of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Tom Schieffer of the Texas Rangers.
On arrival here Tuesday night for the owners’ quarterly meeting, they insisted they are in favor of the radical realignment that would force as many as 15 teams to change leagues. This is one of many scenarios on the agenda.
“We think realignment is what’s needed,” Schieffer said. “We would like to play our geographic rivals who are in the same time zone, even if it means 15 teams have to change leagues. But we’d also support a lesser plan that makes sense. We want to do what’s best for the game.”
Schieffer, who is in his fourth season as the head man of the Rangers, also insisted a majority of the clubs favor major realignment.
“I hope we get it done here in the next two days,” he said.
Naimoli, the principal owner of the Tampa Bay expansion club that begins play next year, said he was “optimistic” a decision would be reached.
“I would be disappointed if we leave here without taking some definite action,” he said.
Naimoli said he got into baseball at the urging of Chicago native Andrew McKenna, the only person who has operated at the top levels of both of Chicago’s big-league clubs.
“Andy told me, `Get into it–you’ll like it.’ “
So far so good, though Naimoli admits he would prefer to be in the NL East rather than in the faraway AL West, which is where the Tampa club originally was assigned. He said he, too, would vote for major realignment and would consider switching to the NL.
Jerry Colangelo, principal owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, also expressed hope the realignment controversy would come to an end.
“Hopefully, this meeting will be a culmination of something,” Colangelo said as he checked into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for the meetings. “I’d like to see some action taken.”
He indicated he wasn’t in favor of the radical plan being pushed by acting commissioner Bud Selig. “Something less than half of that would be more practical,” Colangelo said.
He also dismissed the threatened legal action by San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan, who has said he will sue if he loses the exclusive NL rights to the Bay Area in the event the Oakland A’s are transferred to the NL.
“I don’t think that should deter us from doing the right thing,” Colangelo said.
