Ending the era of family ownership, baseball owners today overwhelmingly approved the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers from Peter O'Malley to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group, sources said.
In approving the sale, valued at about $350 million, owners disregarded the opposition of Murdoch's arch enemy, Ted Turner, vice-chairman of Time-Warner Inc., the Atlanta Braves' owner.Sources close to the Dodgers and Fox, speaking on the condition they not be identifed, confirmed that the owners had approved the sale. The meeting continued after the vote, and the formal announcement was scheduled for later today.
The vote was 27-2, with one abstention, the sources said. The votes against the sale were cast by Turner's Braves and the Chicago White Sox. The New York Mets abstained.
The sale had been criticized because Fox, a division of Murdoch's News Corp., has national TV and cable contracts with baseball and has full or partial local rights to games involving 22 of the 30 teams.
"They answered out questions about having the financial interest in 21 other clubs. That was our biggest concern," said Peter Magowan of the San Francisco Giants.
O'Malley's family had controlled the Dodgers since Oct. 26, 1950, when the team was still in Brooklyn. O'Malley's father, Walter, moved the franchise to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, making major league baseball a coast-to-coast sport.
The sale includes the team, Dodger Stadium, 300 acres surrounding the ballpark in downtown Los Angeles and training complexes in Vero Beach, Fla., and the Dominican Republic.
O'Malley was the last of the family owners who dominated baseball during an era before it became a business. At one time, baseball was dominated by Stoneham (Giants), Carpenter (Phillies), Wrigley (Cubs), Griffith (Senators and Twins), Fetzer (Tigers), Galbreath (Pirates) and Yawkey (Red Sox).
Murdoch's arrival completes the transformation. Previously, the Tribune Co. (Cubs), The Walt Disney Co. (Angels), Time Warner (Braves) and Interbrew SA (Blue Jays) had acquired teams.
Turner attended an owners' meeting for the first time in nine years in an attempt to block the sale, speaking Wednesday for less than five minutes, according to several owners who spoke on the condition they not be identified.
He didn't break out any fiery rhetoric, instead taking a low-key approach of outlining Murdoch's possible legal conflicts of interest and questioning whether he would be a partner with the other owners.
SHORTER GAMES: Baseball wants to stop the yawning.
Hoping to cut 15 minutes from the average time of nine-inning games, owners said Wednesday that pitchers must throw the ball within 12 seconds after a hitter settles into the batter's box with no one on base.
"We're trying to cut some of the dead time," said Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, a consultant to acting commissioner Bud Selig. "I understand why fans are leaving in the seventh inning. It's 11 o'clock and they've got to get home and go to work the next day."
The unions for players and umpires already have agreed to the new procedures, outlined in a Feb. 13 memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Baseball pushed for a speedup in the middle of the 1995 season, but the initiative was largely ignored in 1997. The average time of a nine-inning game was 3 hours, 1 minute in the AL last season, up from 2:52 in 1991. In the NL, it was 2:52, up from 2:46 in 1991.
It was even worse in the World Series, when the average was 3:31, prompting criticism - even from management.
"The `Unfinished Symphony' had a better chance of finishing before that game last night," Selig said after Game 3 between Florida and Cleveland took 4:12.
If pitchers don't throw the ball on time, umpires have the option of calling a ball, Robinson said. If batters don't stay within 3 feet of the box, umpires could call a strike.
Hitters are being told to give bat boys second bats to have ready. That will eliminate delays caused by broken bats. In addition, umpires have agreed to enforce time limits for breaks between innings: 2:25 for Saturday Fox broadcasts and Sunday night ESPN games, 2:05 for others.
MARLINS SALE: Slowly moving ahead with his plan to buy the Florida Marlins, team president Don Smiley has the approval of baseball's ownership committee to become controlling owner of the World Series champions.
Smiley has been working since last fall to put together a group that would buy the team from founder H. Wayne Huizenga for about $150 million, but arranging financing for the deal has taken longer than he expected.
Despite the team's World Series title last year, Huizenga decided to sell the Marlins when he became convinced Florida wouldn't build him a baseball-only ballpark with a retractable roof.
TWINS BUYERS: Don Beaver met with Minnesota Twins officials. Beaver hopes to buy the team from Carl Pohlad and move the franchise to North Carolina after this season. No decision from owners is expected until after a May 5 vote in the Winston-Salem area on a ballpark financing referendum.