Drayton Negotiating Selling Astros

JayZ750 · May 17, 2011

MMP is a great place to watch a game. Any real baseball fan or sports fan, regardless of where they grew up, which parks they've been, to, etc. will tell you that. People may have other favorites - though usually other factors come into play (tradition, setting, etc.), but it's very very hard to not enjoy the ballpark. It's a beauty.

That said, I think the hill is stupid. That's the only gimmick I don't particularly care for, in the sense of how it impacts the game - even understanding it doesn't have a huge impact. I think they should close it up, and put in a swimming pool, or something equally stupid and gimmicky!!

leroy · May 17, 2011

JayZ750 said: ↑

MMP is a great place to watch a game. Any real baseball fan or sports fan, regardless of where they grew up, which parks they've been, to, etc. will tell you that. People may have other favorites - though usually other factors come into play (tradition, setting, etc.), but it's very very hard to not enjoy the ballpark. It's a beauty.

That said, I think the hill is stupid. That's the only gimmick I don't particularly care for, in the sense of how it impacts the game - even understanding it doesn't have a huge impact. I think they should close it up, and put in a swimming pool, or something equally stupid and gimmicky!!
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A swimming pool in the field of play would be kind of dangerous.

Uprising · May 17, 2011

Hippieloser said: ↑

MMP is great. But everyone has ONE thing that they despise about it. For me, it's the freaking choo-choo.
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To be fully honest, I don't think there is anything I hate about mmp. Love that ball park.

I like the hill, doesn't come into play too often. And when it does I love to see how the out fielder plays the ball, makes it more fun.

Beautiful ball park, no matter how much the Astros suck.... I still love going to games.

juicystream · May 17, 2011

leroy said: ↑

A swimming pool in the field of play would be kind of dangerous.
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If you closed it up like he suggested, it wouldn't be in the field of play.

A swimming pool in the field would be a lot of fun though. :grin:

msn · May 17, 2011

think of the espn highlights!!!!!!!!!!!1

br0ken_shad0w · May 17, 2011

People hate MMP? GTFO!

It's a little gimmicky, but I love it. Makes it a little more unique. I especially like all the *****ing by Cardinals and Braves fans about the hill and flagpole.

rockets934life · May 17, 2011

Who hates MMP? It's a great ballpark, I only hear complements about the park. Tal's hill is a nutty but how often does it come into play? Crawford boxes started out like a gimmick but good pitching doesn't have an issue with it. The enhancements made this past offseason make it even nicer and an updated look.

SWTsig · May 17, 2011

i enjoy going to mmp more than any other sporting venue and its not even close... love, love, love mmp, regardless of the trash on the field.

BMoney · May 18, 2011

I think Tal's Hill should be covered in fire ant hills. You would see some hustle out there!

Two Sandwiches · May 18, 2011

The hill and flagpole are nutty, but I like them. It was done as a tradition thing, by the way, not as a gimmick.

eric.81 · May 18, 2011

Just want to pile on in the MMP Love-fest. It is a FANTASTIC ballpark. I loved the Dome when I was a kid and went often. I was about 22 when I saw my first MLB game outdoors, under the sky.

But Minute Maid Park is just in a different class. We've bought the 10 games for $20 package the last few seasons and despite the play of the team, it's a bargain.

When the roof is open early in the season and you look beyond left field and see the sun about to completely set against that beautiful skyline and a cool breeze sweeps across the stands, it's awe inspiring. Then you turn your head back to the field and gaze across the greenest grass in the world... the deafening silence that happens just seconds before the national anthem starts, the crack of the bat, the mediocre hotdog sitting in the pit of your stomach like a boulder... it's just the greatest! I would go to the ballpark every damn night if I could afford it.

Sorry to go off on a "Field of Dream" melodramatic tangent there, but god bless baseball, right?

rockets934life · May 18, 2011

Discrimination Case May Pose Problem for Bud Selig

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/s...d-selig.html?_r=2&ref=sports&pagewanted=print

In 2000, Eagle Global Logistics, a Texas freight company, was investigated by the federal agency charged with monitoring workplace discrimination. The agency’s findings were troubling and lengthy:

Eagle, owned by a former college pitcher named Jim Crane, had failed to promote blacks, Hispanics and women into managerial positions, the agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. Eagle had also demoted women from managerial positions, maintained a hostile workplace, paid blacks, Hispanics and women less than male and white counterparts, and shredded important documents, the agency said.

The report cited an accusation that Crane told his managers not to hire blacks because “once you hire blacks, you can never fire them.” Witnesses said Crane did not permit Eagle to advertise job openings because he did not want to build up files of applications by qualified minority job-seekers.

Crane and his company aggressively fought the E.E.O.C. and similar allegations in a civil lawsuit brought by some former employees. But Crane, without admitting wrongdoing, eventually signed a consent decree that settled the charges for $8.5 million.

Today, Crane stands poised to buy the Houston Astros, one of Major League Baseball’s 30 franchises. Crane’s bid of $680 million will now be put before the sport’s 30 owners.

Rob Manfred, an executive vice president of baseball, would not address the findings of the E.E.O.C. He described Crane as a “viable candidate” to take over the Astros.

Crane did not return calls seeking comment.

Race is a serious subject for baseball, which was segregated until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. The sport has made significant strides to expand on-field and workplace integration and diversity, although the percentage of African-American players on opening day rosters fell to 8.5 percent this year, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Bud Selig, baseball’s commissioner, “has helped to make M.L.B.’s central and team front offices look more like America,” Richard Lapchick, the institute’s director, said in April.

Baseball has embraced Robinson as a revered icon; holds an annual “civil rights” game; created the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities Program to promote the game among urban youth of color; and initiated a program to build and extend partnerships with minority- and women-owned businesses. In 1999, baseball found intolerable the racial and ethnic statements by Marge Schott and ultimately pushed her to sell her controlling shares in the Cincinnati Reds.

Thus, the accusations against Crane — which were made public a decade ago and have gained notoriety again in recent weeks — create a potential problem for Selig and baseball. On Monday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued a statement describing what it called Crane’s “dismal record in the area of discrimination,” and saying that he should be closely monitored.

Certainly, Crane’s history was not unknown to Selig. Last August, Crane had tried to buy the Texas Rangers in a bankruptcy court auction. But the bid he made with Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was not enough.

A group publicly favored by Selig, one that included the Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, bought the team.

According to a person involved in the sale of the Rangers, Selig at the time described Crane as “unapprovable.”

Manfred, the baseball executive, this week denied Selig had ever made such a determination.

“To the extent that someone suggested that there was an approvability problem at the time of the Rangers’ transaction, I believe that to be incorrect,” he said.

At the time, though, Selig had another reason to be wary of Crane. Three years ago, Crane had appeared ready to take control of the Astros, but backed out of the proposed deal as the nation’s economy soured. His decision angered the owner Drayton McLane, one of Selig’s closest friends in the sport.

Although Crane has apparently overcome McLane’s anger — McLane is now prepared to sell his club to him — he will now face the scrutiny of Selig and the other 29 owners in baseball.

Crane and his company have denied the allegations and called the E.E.O.C. investigation flawed.

Only 10 percent of the claims by employees were ultimately deemed worthy of compensation, and Crane wound up getting $6 million back from the E.E.O.C.

Last month, Nancy Patterson, a lawyer who worked on the case for Crane, wrote in a memorandum that the investigation was “an unfortunate example of an unfounded prosecution of a private employer.”

She said the small number of valid claims meant that the company was “ultimately vindicated.”

The E.E.O.C.’s case against Crane never went to trial, leaving the accusations without a full adjudication.

Rick Rossein, a professor at the City University of New York School of Law, said the commission’s handling of workplace discrimination cases could be uneven, depending on each district office’s funding, workload and the skills of its lawyers and investigators. He said the length of the agency’s report on Crane, which ran to 104 pages, suggested that an unusual amount of resources had been put into the investigation.

The accusations included in a “letter of determination” by the E.E.O.C., as the ones against Crane and his company were, mean “there was reasonable cause to believe discrimination has occurred,” Rossein said. But that is a lower standard than is required in court.

“Very few courts allow a letter of determination to get to the jury,” he said. “In court, the slate is clean.”

Crane might not be facing a courtroom as he seeks approval to buy the Astros. But the other 29 owners will, in effect, be jurors determining his suitability to enter their exclusive club. One thing they might explore is Crane’s workplace record since the E.E.O.C.’s investigation, and whether he fully complied with the agency’s requirement that he pay for a managerial leadership program.

Bill White, who broke into the major leagues roughly a decade after Robinson and later became the first black president of the National League, suggested as much. But White, who played a role in approving new ownership when he was N.L. president, said he did not think baseball could simply rule Crane out.

"You talk to him. You ask, ‘Has he done everything the E.E.O.C. thought he should do,’ ” White said. “If you’re the chairman of the ownership committee, you ask, ‘What do you intend to do about your office staff? Do you intend to hire good people in regards to color?’ You try to get him on the record.”
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rcoleman15 · May 21, 2011

Link:
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/05/21/crane-reassures-naacp-receives-invite-from-selig/

Crane reassures NAACP, receives invite from MLB commissioner Selig

Posted on May 21, 2011 at 12:30 am
by DAVID BARRON and RICHARD JUSTICE

The president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP, which had expressed concerns about the prospective sale of the Astros to freight company executive Jim Crane, was encouraged by the results of a 90-minute meeting Friday with Crane and a group that included former Rockets star Clyde Drexler.

Meanwhile, baseball commissioner Bud Selig has invited Crane to Milwaukee on Monday for a get-acquainted session that could play a significant role in Crane’s chances of winning approval from Major League Baseball owners for the $680 million acquisition of the Astros and the team’s portion of a new regional sports network.

Friday’s developments came in the wake of an NAACP statement this week expressing concern about a complaint in 2000 from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concerning EGL, the Houston freight forwarding company that Crane owned through 2007. The group said EGL had a “dismal record in the area of discrimination” during Crane’s tenure and asked that he be “monitored very closely in the area of employment discrimination as it relates to minorities and women.”

The Rev. D.Z. Cofield, president of the local NAACP chapter and pastor of Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, came away from his meeting Friday with a favorable impression of Crane and with a commitment to work together on community projects when the sale is completed.

“We believe that Mr. Crane has the opportunity to set a new standard and raise the bar for how sports franchises engage with the community,” Cofield said. “Without speaking negatively of Drayton McLane’s ownership, we believe there is a lot of room for improvement, and Mr. Crane has indicated that he is committed to seeing the Astros become a winning team both on and off the field.”

Crane was joined at the meeting by George Postolos, the former Rockets president who will become Astros CEO if the sale to Crane is approved; Drexler, who played for the Rockets during Postolos’ time with the team; Shawn Taylor, a former Houston fast-food restaurant owner who is a minority shareholder in the Crane group; and Cederick Johnson, a personal trainer who started a Houston fitness center with Crane’s assistance.

“It was a great meeting,” said Drexler, who has known Crane for more than 15 years. “Jim answered all the questions eloquently. He’s a man of unquestioned character who has given freely to many causes, and I can’t say enough about him. He is a trusted, loyal friend.”

Cofield said the NAACP’s goals were to discuss the EEOC complaint and to determine Crane’s plans for community participation if the sale is completed.

“I think that the willingness to meet with us and the kind of men (Crane) brought to the table speaks volumes about the kind of person he is,” Cofield said.

Cofield complimentary

The EEOC in 2000 accused EGL of attempting to avoid hiring blacks and women of child-bearing age and other violations included in a 104-page report on the company.

The agency sought $20 million from EGL to settle the case, and EGL agreed in 2001 to pay $8.5 million into a settlement fund while denying that it violated employment laws. However, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in 2005 returned about $6 million to EGL after a review found that 203 of 2,073 claims had merit.

Cofield said Crane was “very open, very forthright” and offered to share with the NAACP details and documentation from EGL’s response to the EEOC complaint.

Crane and Postolos had no immediate comment on Cofield’s characterization of their meeting.

Crane’s meeting with Selig, meanwhile, also could be a significant milestone in his pursuit of the Astros. The two met briefly two years ago when Crane was in the midst of negotiations with McLane that ended without a completed agreement.

Baseball officials have predicted the sale will win easy passage by the 29 other owners, especially with Selig’s endorsement.

“It’ll sail through,” McLane said. “Major League Baseball has seen the documents along the way.”

According to a baseball official familiar with the commissioner’s thinking, Selig also believes the sale will be approved without complication. However, part of his management style is to have a one-on-one relationship with each owner. And that’s why Crane’s meeting with Selig is important.

Crane could not be reached for comment on the meeting, and Selig declined to comment.

Diversity addressed

Earlier Friday, three of Crane’s minority partners said they believe in his commitment to diversity and would be glad to elaborate on the matter if asked to do so by MLB.

Margaret Barradas, managing director of Crane Capital Group, Crane’s privately held investment company, and Raul Pedraza, president of Magno International, a Miami-based freight forwarding company, are involved in one of nine partnership units sold by Crane to other investors.

The primary investor in that group is Milton Carroll, chairman and founder of Instrument Products, a Houston oil-tool manufacturing company, and board chairman of Centerpoint Energy.

“I’m a short, Hispanic woman from South Texas with a four-year college degree,” Barradas said. “I work hard, and (Crane) respected me and promoted me.”

Barradas said she met Crane in the 1990s while working for Bank of America and joined his company 10 years ago.

“My knowledge of (Crane) personally and professionally is the principal reason I am an investor in the Astros,” said Carroll, who is African-American. “Promoting diversity has been a priority for Jim for as long as I have known him.”
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lpbman · May 21, 2011

HOUSTON—Cliff Williams, the No. 1 door-to-door purveyor of electric razors, kitchen knives, and mechanical adding machines, confirmed Friday that he "sealed the deal" on his sale of the Houston Astros to businessman Jim Crane. "I says to Mr. Crane, 60 dimes on the spot, no bumps in the price, and you get yourself a honey of a franchise that'll make your old lady smile," Williams said while snapping his fingers, adding that he closed the deal by tossing in a $50 cash rebate and foul poles at no extra charge. "With some of these ball clubs you have to worry about who’s hitting, who's not. With the Astros, it's all clockwork, baby. Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee—these are real, genuine, top-notch quality ballplayers, I tell ya. And that’s a Cliff Williams guarantee!" Immediately following his comments, Williams hopped on a train to Pawhuska, OK, where he was meeting "some poor schnook" who was interested in purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/astros-sold-by-best-doortodoor-salesman-in-the-wor,20502/

Mr. Clutch · May 21, 2011

Goodbye Ed Wade and Tal Smith

The Real Shady · Nov 2, 2017

So glad Drayton sold the team and Luhnow and Crane went for a compete teardown and rebuild. It was a tough 4 years after 2011 losing 100+ in 2011-13 and 90+ in 2014, but obviously well worth it to put this team together. From the get go you can tell that Luhnow was way more forward thinking than most GM's in baseball and could be a special GM.

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