How the A's almost became the White Sox

[southsider2k5]

The fun part of this story is that Charlie Finley's homestead is a ranch in the next town over from me.

 

http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/11/16/3649842/switching-sox

 

f the Sox moved to Seattle in 1975, Charlie Finley's club would have occupied Comiskey Park

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The American League had three problems in the mid-70s. They were fighting a lawsuit filed by the city of Seattle for moving the Pilots to Milwaukee in 1970. Charles O. Finley, owner of the Oakland A's, wanted out of Oakland. John Allyn, owner of the White Sox, was broke. He wanted to sell the team for a princely sum of $14 million.

 

There was a way to solve all three problems in one fell swoop. In July of 1975, the Tribune reported that Allyn would sell the Sox to an ownership group in Seattle. The original White Sox would move to the Pacific Northwest. Charlie Finley would settle his debts with the Oakland Coliseum and move the A's to Comiskey Park, where they would play as...

 

...The White Sox!

 

The A's were in first place in the AL West in 1975, and there was no way Finley was going to talk about relocation while the team was still in contention. But it was no secret that Finley wanted to be in Chicago. He grew up in Indiana. His insurance business was located in Chicago. Finley wanted to buy the Sox from the Comiskeys in 1959. His ownership group was edged out by Bill Veeck.

 

The Tribune called it an arrangement "worthy of Solomon." Allyn gets his money, Seattle gets a baseball team, and Finley gets his wish.

 

Bucky Dent, Jorge Orta, Carlos May, Jerry Hairston, Jim Kaat, and Wilbur Wood would decamp to the new domed stadium that was being built in Seattle. Joe Rudi, Phil Garner, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, and Ken Holtzman would move to Comiskey Park and play as the White Sox v2.0.

 

The 1970's White Sox teams weren't that good. They were so bad, that the 1972 and 1977 squads were memorable for not being terrible. They were so bad that by 1979 they could only entice fans to the ballpark with the promise of watching a DJ blow up disco records in center field.

 

So what happened? Negotiations happened.

 

Star-divide

 

John Allyn wanted $14 million for the Sox: $10 million for the team and $4 million for Comiskey Park. Potential buyers didn't have a problem with the asking price for the team ... but they thought $4 million was an insane amount of money for a crumbling ballpark.

 

If the Sox left for Seattle at the end of 1975, the American League wanted Comiskey Park to have a new tenant for 1976.

 

The Tribune broke the story about the Finley/White Sox arrangement on July 30, 1975. On July 31, 1975 ... a man named Andy McKenna visited Bill Veeck at his home in Maryland.

 

McKenna is a Chicago businessman. He's chairman of the Schwartz Paper Co. He's the honorary Chairman of McDonald's and Aon Corp. At age 82, Chicago Magazine calls him "eminence grise among Chicago dealmakers." If the name sounds familiar, that's because his son is the former head of the Illinois Republican Party who staged an unsuccessful run for Governor in 2010.

 

The elder McKenna didn't want the Sox to leave for Seattle. Veeck, meantime, was growing bored with his self-imposed exile from baseball. An attempt to buy the Baltimore Orioles had been torpedoed by the IRS earlier that year. McKenna's sales pitch to Veeck was a simple one.

 

"Bill, it's time; time to come back home."

 

Veeck cobbled together an ownership group, and bought the Sox in October of 1975. The American League owners initially vetoed the deal, but they later relented and approved the sale by a 10-2 margin. Veeck was back in the game, and the Sox would remain in Chicago.

 

Finley would remain in Oakland. Seattle wouldn't get its ballclub until 1977.

 

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/11/16/3649842/switching-sox

 

Switching Sox: When the A's almost moved in

By 67WMAQ on Nov 16, 6:00

 

If the Sox moved to Seattle in 1975, Charlie Finley's club would have occupied Comiskey Park

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The American League had three problems in the mid-70s. They were fighting a lawsuit filed by the city of Seattle for moving the Pilots to Milwaukee in 1970. Charles O. Finley, owner of the Oakland A's, wanted out of Oakland. John Allyn, owner of the White Sox, was broke. He wanted to sell the team for a princely sum of $14 million.

 

There was a way to solve all three problems in one fell swoop. In July of 1975, the Tribune reported that Allyn would sell the Sox to an ownership group in Seattle. The original White Sox would move to the Pacific Northwest. Charlie Finley would settle his debts with the Oakland Coliseum and move the A's to Comiskey Park, where they would play as...

 

...The White Sox!

 

The A's were in first place in the AL West in 1975, and there was no way Finley was going to talk about relocation while the team was still in contention. But it was no secret that Finley wanted to be in Chicago. He grew up in Indiana. His insurance business was located in Chicago. Finley wanted to buy the Sox from the Comiskeys in 1959. His ownership group was edged out by Bill Veeck.

 

The Tribune called it an arrangement "worthy of Solomon." Allyn gets his money, Seattle gets a baseball team, and Finley gets his wish.

 

Bucky Dent, Jorge Orta, Carlos May, Jerry Hairston, Jim Kaat, and Wilbur Wood would decamp to the new domed stadium that was being built in Seattle. Joe Rudi, Phil Garner, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, and Ken Holtzman would move to Comiskey Park and play as the White Sox v2.0.

 

The 1970's White Sox teams weren't that good. They were so bad, that the 1972 and 1977 squads were memorable for not being terrible. They were so bad that by 1979 they could only entice fans to the ballpark with the promise of watching a DJ blow up disco records in center field.

 

So what happened? Negotiations happened.

 

Star-divide

 

John Allyn wanted $14 million for the Sox: $10 million for the team and $4 million for Comiskey Park. Potential buyers didn't have a problem with the asking price for the team ... but they thought $4 million was an insane amount of money for a crumbling ballpark.

 

If the Sox left for Seattle at the end of 1975, the American League wanted Comiskey Park to have a new tenant for 1976.

 

The Tribune broke the story about the Finley/White Sox arrangement on July 30, 1975. On July 31, 1975 ... a man named Andy McKenna visited Bill Veeck at his home in Maryland.

 

McKenna is a Chicago businessman. He's chairman of the Schwartz Paper Co. He's the honorary Chairman of McDonald's and Aon Corp. At age 82, Chicago Magazine calls him "eminence grise among Chicago dealmakers." If the name sounds familiar, that's because his son is the former head of the Illinois Republican Party who staged an unsuccessful run for Governor in 2010.

 

The elder McKenna didn't want the Sox to leave for Seattle. Veeck, meantime, was growing bored with his self-imposed exile from baseball. An attempt to buy the Baltimore Orioles had been torpedoed by the IRS earlier that year. McKenna's sales pitch to Veeck was a simple one.

 

"Bill, it's time; time to come back home."

 

Veeck cobbled together an ownership group, and bought the Sox in October of 1975. The American League owners initially vetoed the deal, but they later relented and approved the sale by a 10-2 margin. Veeck was back in the game, and the Sox would remain in Chicago.

 

Finley would remain in Oakland. Seattle wouldn't get its ballclub until 1977. And that was the story of how there was an MLB franchise that Phil Humber could throw a perfect game against.

 

Haha friggin' Bill Veeck.

[Paint it Black]

As a yougin' (I'm 25) I enjoyed the history lesson. Thanks!

[YASNY]

Here's a little more history. After an owner's meeting, when it seemed the Sox would almost certainly end up in Seattle, Angel's owner Gene (The Singing Cowboy) Autry and actor Danny Kaye, who was part of the potential owner's group of the "Seattle White Sox" came out of the meeting, arm in arm, were to tune of Autry's signature song "Back in the Saddle Again" singing "Back in Seattle Again". I've despised those two ever since.

[nickofypres]

I already knew this.

[Texsox]

My favorite was the "midnight" stadium deal. Just keep turning back the clock . . .

[cabiness42]

Here's a little more history. After an owner's meeting, when it seemed the Sox would almost certainly end up in Seattle, Angel's owner Gene (The Singing Cowboy) Autry and actor Danny Kaye, who was part of the potential owner's group of the "Seattle White Sox" came out of the meeting, arm in arm, were to tune of Autry's signature song "Back in the Saddle Again" singing "Back in Seattle Again". I've despised those two ever since.

 

OK, anytime anybody mentions Danny Kaye, all I can think of is:

 

Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.

[Steve9347]

As a yougin' (I'm 25) I enjoyed the history lesson. Thanks!

This.

 

Thanks for posting, guys. That was really interesting to read.