Word: finley
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sequence of events began to unfold at an appropriate venue, DiMaggio's restaurant (Joe and Dom own small interests) on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, where Dick O'Connell, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox, got a message to telephone Charlie Finley, the exasperated (and exasperating) owner of the Oakland Athletics. For days Finley had been trying to trade or sell seven premier players of the A's who had refused to sign contracts; now he hoped to arrange a package deal that O'Connell could not decline. The spring trading deadline...
...Enough. Finley's proposal was a shocker, but no bigger one than O'Connell's acceptance of it: Boston would pay Finley $1 million for Outfielder Joe Rudi, 29, and $1 million for Relief Pitcher Rollie Fingers, 29. O'Connell was not, however, willing to spend a third million on the flashy lefthander, Vida Blue...
...assumed that a deal was set to sell Blue to the weak Detroit Tigers or, that failing, perhaps to the Minnesota Twins. When word leaked of Boston's purchase, in stepped an even higher roller than Yawkey, Yankee Owner George Steinbrenner. Finley jacked Blue's price to $1.5 million, which did not faze the Yankees. At 8 p.m. they bought Blue, and then in the waning minutes before midnight made a nine-player trade with the dispirited Baltimore Orioles to get yet another unsigned ex-Oakland pitching star, troublesome Ken Holtzman...
...Finley said he had been forced to sell because of "astronomical and unjustified" player salary demands. Angry fellow owners called it "a terrible thing," "a dark day." White Sox Owner Bill Veeck's telling summary: "It destroys the illusion ... that this is a game for the fans." The fans knew it, too, even in Boston and New York. Of the first 20 calls to a Boston sports talk show, not one defended the Sox deal. New York Times Columnist Dave Anderson wrote: "A sense of embarrassment dominates what the Yankees...
...protest rose, baseball suddenly got support from an unanticipated source, the game's own commissioner. Heretofore known primarily for his timidity, Bowie Kuhn ordered the principals in the sales to New York for a meeting and listened to their explanations. Finley, decked out in gala canary yellow, left laughing, and Steinbrenner gave a thumbs-up sign...