A Tale of Three (Baseball) Cities

The Los Angeles Dodgers have an ownership wrapped in a bitter divorce. On the other side of the country, the New York Mets have an ownership marred in scandal. Bad business moves that have little to do with baseball have left the players, coaches, and fans of both teams to watch and pray that things turn around fast.

Somewhere between the rain clouds covering Dodger Stadium and Citi Field, a failing Texas Rangers team struggling to be relevant amongst fans in a market dominated by The Dallas Cowboys has for years tried to succeed. After season after season of low attendance and minimal success, former player and legendary pitcher Nolan Ryan, along with his business partner Chuck Greenberg take control of the talented team and watch as they cruise to the World Series. Having Ryan never been able to get the Rangers to the fall classic as a player, but as an owner of only a few months may have had more to do with the current players on the roster than any business decision he did might be true, but it didn’t stop the Dallas area from getting excited.

Ryan’s newfound ownership is something that all MLB teams should take note of, or at least potential owners. With the Mets and Dodgers both in financial disarray due to poor management from owners who seemed more concerned with profits and lucrative lifestyles than running the team to win as much as possible and please the fans, it would seem like a no brainer that this type of business management should throw up a red flag. Instead, Donald Trump’s name has been thrown in for potential buyers of the New York Mets.

Whether Trump’s name being thrown in the mix is rumor, pure speculation, or a serious threat of new management is beside the point. Whether Trump is a real fan of baseball also has nothing to do with the ridiculousness of this premise of his as the next owner of the Mets. Trump has had a well-publicized history of rough business results. In 2009, Trump’s own Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy. Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago even failed to pay a loan in 2008. Why is a man like this interested in taking over an already troubled baseball franchise?

The only thing that would make this potential scenario salvageable would be if he were to bring on a dedicated person with a longtime history with the MLB as a business partner. Whether it be a former player, manager, or coach it doesn’t matter. Just as long as it is someone to steer him clear of making the same past mistakes the Mets have been put through and puts them on the right track to earn the faith back in the lost fans.

Baseball should not be run as if the games are played on Wall Street. It should have the same heart and soul put into it from the business side, as it does on the field, behind the plate, and on the mound. If this is done, the profits will come, or it will fail for all the right reasons: because it is not a viable market for baseball. Clearly Los Angeles and New York are not places where a baseball team should be struggling. Texas, however has always been a tricky market for the baseball crowd, but having a Hall of Fame former player running things has seemed to work just fine, At least for one season.