Worst Owner in Sports History?

The Charlie O book is a great read.

 

Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be

 

All true, except it was Inge Hammarstrom and not Salming he ripped with the eggs comment.

Ballard's famous line criticizing Sittler was about the need to find a centre to play with Lanny McDonald and Errol Thompson. This was when Sittler was already the team's captain and had led the team in scoring in each of the three previous seasons. A day or two later, Sittler responded by pumping in six goals and 10 points against Boston.

And "the son he never had"......Ballard actually had two sons of his own, both of whom hated his guts and feuded with him constantly.

 

Wasn't there some story about Ballard wanting to buy the Toronto Argonauts, but they wouldn't sell to him, so he bought the Hamilton TigerCats?
Then they had a parade before the Grey Cup in Toronto and he had a float built with a TigerCat on it. And he had mannequin wearing an Argonauts uniform in the Tiger's mouth and a ripped up Argos jersey coming out of Tiger's ass.

 

I give Finley credit in a couple of areas. Despite having a small staff, the team drafted exceptionally well, from Jackson to Hunter to Rickey Henderson, or maybe they just had great people in the minor leagues and got lucky. And he never ripped off the fans, the A's were always one of the more affordable tickets in the Bay Area. And when Finley sold the team, he sold to local owners.
Now if you go across the complex...can I present Chris Cohan?

I think bad ownership comes in three varieties. General losing, Charging a lot for a bad product, Basic indifference.

 

Ballard was easily the worst in Canuckistan (good to see some others mention the Gleibermans), who could forget Yolanda (is she still alive?) and TC Puck?

Wonder whatever happened to the teenage girl who left her family to go live with Pal Hal and Yolanda. Got pretty public for a while with her parents in the media all the time asking her to come home.

 

Cohan may have to wait on the Veterans' Committee, but he does deserve a place on this thread. IIRC, he engineered a palace coup to oust the group that had bought the team from Franklin Mieuli and produced the "Run-TMC" era. A black cloud has hung over this team since. Awful draft picks. Terrible trades. L'affaire Sprewell. Spinning door on the coach's office, but a seat was always warm for Don Nelson. And yet the Warriors kept selling out ...

 

Charles Commiskey gets an unfair rap for being a cheapskate. Connie Mack was a real cheapskate. He skirted the law screwing over a couple of returning veterans in 1945 and 1946 which, in my opinion, is tough to reconcile with his saintly image.

 

Also, dimwitted racist toad Calvin Griffith needs some serious consideration.

 

I second this one. And while I am at it, I will add Charlie Findley (First of the owners to start paying million dollar salaries leading to what we see now -- which has gotten out of hand and unable to be handled by a few players [not all, but just a few]).

 

So then you would just tinker with this logo a bit?



For those who don't get it, when viewed from a distance and against certain colored backgrounds, this looks more like a wide-eyed chipmunk than a "Rough Rider." At this size, you may have to squint to see it.

 

All I see is a schooner.</mallrats>