Fans Ready To Move On From A Glass Half Full

     It’s been an interesting couple of days since the news came out that it seems likely that the Kansas City Royals will have a new ownership group, headed by Kansas Citian John Sherman, who made his fortune in the energy business, and for the last three years has been a minority owner with the Cleveland Indians.

     The news that David Glass wanted to sell the team somewhat came out of the blue, but maybe it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Glass is 84 years old, his franchise that he paid 96 million dollars for is now estimated to be worth about a billion, and with another phase of losing baseball underway, that value could only be diminished by miserable seasons with declining attendance.

     The reaction of the fan base has been borderline joyous, which some see as strange seeing as Glass sat atop a franchise that won the World Series merely four years ago, but I find the reaction perfectly understandable. Glass headed the board that ran the Royals starting in 1993 without an owner per se, and then purchased the club in 2000 for what would in the end be a ridiculous bargain even by Walmart standards. His background as the CEO at Walmart, and his early skinflint ownership style, created animosity with the fan base that even the later winning could only be dampened, not forgiven.

     I tend to agree for the most part with this sour impression. Glass stacked up negatives, even minor ones, until at least a few years into GM Dayton Moore’s tenure which began in 2005. He announced that he would move to Kansas City when he acquired the club, and he never did. He named his son Dan the team president despite him having virtually no baseball experience. That would have been fine if Dan had operated as he does now, working on mostly day-to-day operations, not baseball, but at the outset he wanted baseball influence. The most notorious story of his lack of acumen, perhaps apocryphal, but generally believed, was that he was sent to Latin America to sign a pitcher to a 2-year, 4 million-dollar deal, but instead gave him 4 million per year.

     Davis Glass was also unabashed about being a Cardinals fan, and while you certainly can’t fault the man for being honest, that was never going to go over well. He also often noted that a clause in his purchase agreement stated that all team profits would go to charity, but that clause conveniently lapsed by thetime the Royals started making real money, and also easily could be circumvented by a salary paid to owner, which never was known.

     He definitely worked to change the landscape of baseball for the benefit of small market teams, which succeeded to a small degree, but that effort seemed to be more of a passion than actually working to have a competitive team of his own. He certainly made his wisest move in hiring Moore, but there are more than a few whispers that Dayton had to threaten to quit on a few occasions in order to get Glass to change his penurious ways.

     But it has to be noted that he did. The championship Royals ended up with the ninth highest payroll in baseball. But even that was fleeting, and when things went south fast, rebuilding efforts have been slowed in part, because for all of the positives Glass eventually embraced, eating salary to enhance prospect return in trade was not one of them.

     So, all that makes it understandable that fans think that times will be better with John Sherman at the helm. But it has to be undeniably noted that winning a World Series in a small market is difficult business, and David Glass was indeed the owner.

     He also should be given points for, by his actions, seeming to indicate that he knows that his son Dan is not ownership material. Now, there certainly are many other factors in wanting to sell. (Later today after I first wrote this, it was reported health concerns are accelerating the process) That also fits into the narrative that hiis other two children want no part of the baseball business, and have a billion reasons why they would want the sale.

     There are no certainties, but Sherman certainly checks many boxes. The first thing to note is that in sports, someone you have yet to see fail is always seen as a panacea to what you have. Sherman comes with a highly respected entrepreneurial background, and a significant charitable track record. He, if he indeed became the owner, has basically had three years training at it with the Indians. And he certainly seems to have tremendous civic pride and affection for Kansas City itself. He has been a Royals season ticket holder in the past and calls baseball “a passion”.

     He also has a close relationship with Sporting Kansas City principal owner Cliff Illig, who has been rumored to be part of the proposed ownership team, but has so far distanced himself from those reports. But the well-earned respect that Illig has in the community reflects well on Sherman, although his track record could easily stand on its own.

     The first perception of the fan base seems to be that Sherman will flat out just spend more money. There is no way to know that, but he has a lot of it, and has donated large sums to schools and organizations he thought highly of. However, he operated in Cleveland with a team that was moderate in their spending. They have the nineteenth highest  payroll in baseball this year, but obviously they have had consistent success using that model, without the ultimate prize.

     What would Sherman’s operating style be, would he make wholesale changes, would he advocate for a downtown ballpark? These are only things that we can speculate on. Sherman has not gone public on any of this. He is said to be a combination of hands-on and engaged, while being a good delegator as well.

     But one thing is certain. For whatever reasons you want to lay out, a fan base has been energized by this apparent major change in the Royals future. It’s a fan base tortured by lousy baseball for over two decades, who then got a cool drink of champagne for a couple of years, only to be cast back into the baseball desert all too quickly. They fear they are headed back to the bad old days, and for better or worse, think a change at the top is a refreshing one.

     I really can’t blame them.