It’s being reported that Rangers owner Tom Hicks has had a falling out
with Dennis Gilbert, the guy who, just two days ago, was called the
front runner to take over the team. This is good news, reports Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, because if Gilbert had come on board, Nolan Ryan was going to resign as team president:
Nolan’s problem was not with Hicks. But if Gilbert takes over — and
even without Hicks as his partner, he will go it alone — Gilbert would
be in charge of the team’s entire operation, business and baseball . .
. Those close to Gilbert say his ultimate goal would be a combined team
president-general manager situation. Total control of all things
baseball has been his dream.
If Gilbert is truly fighting with Hicks now it’s a good bet that Hicks
won’t sell to him, but dear God, Rangers fans have to hope that
Gilbert’s bid doesn’t otherwise get any traction, say, through a forced
sale over Hicks’ objections. Not just because it would mean the end of
the well-loved Nolan Ryan’s career with the team, but because Dennis
Gilbert calling all the shots would be the short road to hell for the
Rangers.
If history shows us anything, it shows us that when owners take an
active role in the actual day-to-day baseball decisions, bad things
happen. The Yankees spring to mind. Yes, they won despite
Steinbrenner’s meddling in the Bronx Zoo era, but it’s no accident that
they didn’t start to rebuild the dynasty until Steinbrenner was
suspended for a year and actual baseball minds took over. Ask any
Orioles fan how life was back when Peter Angelos was more active on a
day-to-day basis.
Just because you’ve figured out how to make a lot of money doesn’t mean
you know how to run a baseball team. Based on Gilbert’s ridiculous
claim that he invented free agency, you can imagine that he has no
shortage of ego. That, combined with no one to call him on any bad
decisions would be a recipe for disaster for Texas.
