Most destructive team owners

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Finley's treatment of Mike Andrews during the World Series was enough to put him on this list.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

George Steinbrenner, pre-suspension. Was considered the cartoonish paradigm of a terrible owner.

 

[Scout]

Bill Bidwill

 

[Starman]

George Steinbrenner, pre-suspension. Was considered the cartoonish paradigm of a terrible owner.

Steinbrenner had a brief stint as the owner of the Cleveland Tapers in the short lived American Basketball League in 1960-62, in which his management style served as a model for Fatfork's later forkery with the USFL.

 

[Scout]

Melvin Swig killed NHL hockey in Cleveland and couldn't pay his team.

Did I get that correct?

 

[Woody Long]

All true, but Tose at least hired deck Vermeil and got to a Super Bowl. Even still, he's hated, but not as much as Braman.

Braman gets a lot of flack for his feud with Buddy Ryan, who was beloved, and for letting Reggie White walk with no effort at all to re-sign him. It was part of the purge of all things Ryan, during which more than half of that legendary defense was shown the door in one off-season.

And then he hired Rich Kotite.

"That Guy in France" remains an all-time great nickname, though.

Trivia question: Who won more playoff games as the Iggles' head coach, Ryan or Kotite?

 

[Woody Long]

Melvin Swig killed NHL hockey in Cleveland and couldn't pay his team.

Did I get that correct?

A guy I knew from my minor league days had worked for the Cleveland Scouts the last two seasons of their existence, and said there was more uncertainty around that organization than any minor league team he worked for afterwards - and he worked in minor league hockey, not exactly the paragon of team stability, for 30-plus years afterward.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Mike Piazza

The Passion of Mike Piazza: How the midlife crisis of a baseball Hall of Famer led to the demise of a 100-year-old Italian soccer club

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Bud Adams destroyed the Houston Oilers.

Al Davis destroyed the Oakland Raiders twice and the Los Angeles Raiders once.

Horace Stoneham destroyed the New York Giants.

Walter O'Malley destroyed the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The franchises kept going, but if you lived in those cities, your team was destroyed. The LA Dodgers were not the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was not losing money. At some point, his stadium issue would have been resolved.

Sometimes franchise moves can be justified financially, if you are losing money. Anything beyond that is simple greed, IMHO, often couched as a "smart business decision" or some other narrative. Other's mileage will vary, obviously.

O'Malley wanted a new field at what is now Barclays Center. But Ebbets Field was 40 years old at the time and had limited parking. The White Flight led to decreasing attendance before the move (from what I've read). He was blocked by Robert Moses more than anyone from building near the rail lines. Moses got his new field in Queens.

 

[dixiehack]

Mike Piazza

The Passion of Mike Piazza: How the midlife crisis of a baseball Hall of Famer led to the demise of a 100-year-old Italian soccer club

Isiah Thomas says hold my beer.

Ex-CBA Coach Reveals How Isiah Thomas Led Minor League To Bankruptcy

 

[melock]

Trivia question: Who won more playoff games as the Iggles' head coach, Ryan or Kotite?

Kotite beat the Saints. Ryan never won a playoff game.

 

[Driftwood]

No one has mentioned Charles Comiskey.