CDuffy26
06-01-2008, 09:10 PM
Joe Cronin, the President of the American League of Baseball Clubs, was in trouble. After awarding the cities of Seattle and Kansas City with franchises in the early spring of 1968, the Seattle Pilots owner, Dewey Soriano had withdrawn his bid for the franchise, citing financial difficulties for the reason he had to withdraw. Cronin then had the league but the team up for sale, and get together a list of potential owners for the club.
The list included the owners which had originally been slated to be owners of the club, The Boeing Corporation. It also included a former professional ballpalyer from the 1940's, a man by the name of Jeffery Newman. Jeff had played sparringly for the Braves and Red Sox during the 1940 and 41 seasons, but then decided to retire after an arm injury ruined his career. He moved out west and began to invest in a few banks, eventually opening up Newman Mutual Bank. Then in 1946, he had a son, who he named Greggory. (If you haven't already guessed, that's me) Evetually the voting for the ownership of the Seattle team came to a vote between the other 11 Americna League owners. And with a vote of 7 to 4, my father became majority owner of the Seattle Pilots.
Now you may be wondering why he is majority owner? He currently owns 90% of the team, with the other 10% being owned by one of his good friends from his playing days back during his playing days, the one and only Lefty Grove. Lefty was one of the best pitchers that the league had ever seen, compling 300 wins over his career, but now Lefty was older. At 69, he couldn't do much in baseball anymore, but he still wanted to be involved in the sport somehow. So along with owning a portion of the team, he was also the team's President.
Knowing that he needed someone he could trust running the team, he put me in charge of Basbeall Operations as both the club's Vice President and General Manager. After recieving this responsibility, I began to review the overall picture of the Pilots, and this was basically it...
Principal Owner: Jeffery Newman
Minority Owner & Team President: Lefty Grove
Vice President and General Manager: Greggory Newman
And that was it. Man, me and Lefty are going to have alot of work to do in the upcoming year...
http://www.bandkgreen.net/lefty_grove/photos_files/grove8.jpg
Lefty Grove, Seattle Pilots President and minority owner
The list included the owners which had originally been slated to be owners of the club, The Boeing Corporation. It also included a former professional ballpalyer from the 1940's, a man by the name of Jeffery Newman. Jeff had played sparringly for the Braves and Red Sox during the 1940 and 41 seasons, but then decided to retire after an arm injury ruined his career. He moved out west and began to invest in a few banks, eventually opening up Newman Mutual Bank. Then in 1946, he had a son, who he named Greggory. (If you haven't already guessed, that's me) Evetually the voting for the ownership of the Seattle team came to a vote between the other 11 Americna League owners. And with a vote of 7 to 4, my father became majority owner of the Seattle Pilots.
Now you may be wondering why he is majority owner? He currently owns 90% of the team, with the other 10% being owned by one of his good friends from his playing days back during his playing days, the one and only Lefty Grove. Lefty was one of the best pitchers that the league had ever seen, compling 300 wins over his career, but now Lefty was older. At 69, he couldn't do much in baseball anymore, but he still wanted to be involved in the sport somehow. So along with owning a portion of the team, he was also the team's President.
Knowing that he needed someone he could trust running the team, he put me in charge of Basbeall Operations as both the club's Vice President and General Manager. After recieving this responsibility, I began to review the overall picture of the Pilots, and this was basically it...
Principal Owner: Jeffery Newman
Minority Owner & Team President: Lefty Grove
Vice President and General Manager: Greggory Newman
And that was it. Man, me and Lefty are going to have alot of work to do in the upcoming year...
http://www.bandkgreen.net/lefty_grove/photos_files/grove8.jpg
Lefty Grove, Seattle Pilots President and minority owner