Episode 2. (The Boy Owner)
Scottie Durham was 15 years old when he found out his father died. Not only had his father given his life to the Milwaukee Zephyrs, sometimes being the groundskeeper when the team was short a guy. He was an owner’s owner, but a player’s kind of owner too. When the team won the ’52 Sunset Series, everyone was elated for the work the family put in.
Now all of this was on Scottie’s head. Well not really, he had to go to school. But he knew at 18, per the structure of his father’s will, the team belonged to him and it was his responsibility to figure out what to do with this ballclub that’s belong to his family.
The rest of the family felt like they’d had enough of baseball and wanted to accept one of the tempting offers to sell the team. None of the quality offers were local deals, meaning the Zephyrs would pull up stakes after 35+ years in the only city they’ve ever known for greener pastures somewhere else in the country. This didn’t quite feel right with Scottie, but it might not get a chance to really say much.
The gears were in motion and it might be tough for him to stop them.
Fire Sale
The court-appointed stewards placed over the club had other plans and those plans, unbeknownst to Scottie were to prepare the club for a sale. Any assets that were on the club had to be sold to recoup some value. The newly installed general manager D.C. Goodman was told to strip assets at any cost, which was going to alienate the fan base and yet, no one ever told the GM was going to be happening, what the plans was or where the team was headed.
He did his best to recoup some value, getting back prospects where possible and trying to hold off for as long as possible making deals in the hopes that desperate playoff contenders would offer up a King’s Ransom for somebody.
The team began February of 1968 13th out of 28 teams in the majors in payroll at just over $58 million. This obviously won’t do for the new owners.
Goodman had a hard time making a first deal, but when someone was willing to offload $24m in salary over the next two years, he didn’t bat an eyelash.
Kucurski was the 1962 NL Tavis Pulitzer Prize winner (Rookie of the Year) for the California Seals, but after a second all-star season the following year, never returned to glory and had just signed a minor league deal with the Louisville Spires for the upcoming year just to get a shot at the bigs.
Nobody was interested in slapping D.C. Goodman on the back after he completed his first big trade, they were more pleased he saved the team money. In one stroke, the club went from Top 15 in payroll to 27th at $38.18 million.
Now to start an actual season.
There was more work to be done.
