Atlanta Braves are about to see big changes from a division rival

Multiple sources are reporting that a group headline by Derek Jeter and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush have agreed in principle to buy the Miami Marlins for $1.3 billion.  But the history of superstar sports owners is a bit rocky.

I admit not being certain about which group I wanted to see win the bidding for the Marlins:  the Jeter/Bush team or the Atlanta Braves-inspired Glavine/Romney consortium.  I still want to hate on the Marlins, and having a Yankee involved preserves that desire.

The approvals and the details will have to be worked out of the course of the next several months, but regardless of the new ownership, there is a cautionary tale that needs to be told here.

Yankees South

With Don Mattingly as manager, the elements are already in place for Derek Jeter to take the reins of this club and implement his version of everything he’s grown up in baseball to be – a National League Yankees franchise.

While a large portion of Miami has never really embraced the Marlins – partly because of current owner Jeffrey Loria, partly due to team handling through the last 2 decades – I expect those fans-in-waiting will flock to and rally around a Jeter-Mattingly led franchise with so many displaced Yankee fans in the area.

At least for a while.

History Lessons

When a superstar/Hall of Fame-level player takes over an active role in running a club, it usually doesn’t go well for the team.

• Michael Jordan – Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (owner), 349-465 since 2008 when he became involved…in playoffs 4 times.
• Wayne Gretzky – Phoenix Coyotes (head coach).  143-161, never made the playoffs (which is almost unbelievable in hockey)
• Pete Rose – Cincinnati Reds (manager).  Better than most, winning 89/86/84 games in 1985-87, but then there was the gambling thing.
• Jerry Richardson – Carolina Panthers.  Some close calls in the playoffs, but lots of failures as well.  In this case, Richardson built up a business empire after leaving the NFL as a player, so his background is quite different than the others on this list.
• Mario Lemieux – Pittsburgh Penguins (owner).  This was weird because he was thrust into the mix as owner simply because the Penguins were bankrupt and couldn’t pay him.  He has won the Stanley Cup – both as a player and owner.  A definite exception to the rules.
• Nolan Ryan – Texas Rangers (part owner/Team President/CEO) .  Was constantly butting heads with other front office personnel, but did see on-field success:  90+ wins from 2010 through 2013, with 2 World Series losses.

The superstars of the game usually have a good idea of how they want to run things.  But they have seldom had to deal with the business aspects of their games.

Additionally, the business people that normally handle such chores are trained in ways completely different from the training and education of athletes.  Thus business people and athletes… are a lot like oil and water.

Some athletes understand that – Magic Johnson is sitting on the sidelines and operates more as the public face of the Dodgers rather than an ‘operational’ owner.  But many want to be involved in a “hands on” basis… they want to take charge.  After all, that’s how they became who they were on the field.

I’m not the first one to take note of this track record, described as “mixed” by Forbes.

Adding it Up

Jeter will not be able to run the Marlins the way George Steinbrenner ran the Yankees… unless there’s a real Sugar Daddy that we aren’t aware of yet, the budget simply won’t be there.

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In fact, it’s an interesting question as to where the money is all coming from to buy the team:

• Bush’s net worth is roughly $12 million
• Jeter earned over $265 million during his playing career, of which he might have actually pocketed about half, thanks to taxes.  Factoring in endorsement deals, he’s still looking at an estimated $185 million to his name… not counting whatever wife Hannah might have in the bank.

So while everyone is treating this as a done deal this morning, we don’t know identities of the other partners that must be in on this buyer’s group.  We do know that based on Bush and Jeter alone, they are about $1.1 billion short.

So MLB will have to assess whether the money is ‘real’ and will leave the new owners with sufficient capital to actually run the Marlins after purchase.  Only then can they approve the sale – these names alone won’t be enough.

But assuming everything checks out, changes are coming down south – changes that will impact the Braves if indeed this group has the money to pour into a club that’s been languishing for several years.

Next: Life in the Fast Lane

In many respects it was nice having a team to laugh at in the division.