--- In thewashingtonsenators@yahoogroups.com, "Tim and Suzanne"
<tbpsmd@...> wrote:
>
> Not really. Sh*t had a pre-arranged deal with the Dallas-Fort
Worth people to buy a club and move it there. From day one, that was
his intention. As a former Senators pitcher told me, "We should have
known what was up from the beginning when Sh*t flew us from Florida
to play a couple of exhibition games in Dallas-Fort Worth before we
came home to open against the Yankees."
> (That was 1969 -- Sh*t's first year as owner.
>
> Not for one millisecond did he think about staying. That's why he
was constantly making bad moves -- to sour DC on baseball so he'd
have a good excuse.
>
> And when it didn't work, he just plain undercounted the fans so the
> situation would seem much worse than it was -- and he could keep
more money while he destroyed things.
>
> And even accepting Sh*t's undercounts at face value (which I
don't), the 2001 Montreal Expos still drew fewer fans in absolute
numbers than the 1971 Senators did.

> And the attendance didn't go up (other than a blip) in Texas for
three years -- right when the team started to get good again. The
same thing would have happened here.
>
> Finley, OTOH, operated in KC for seven years. Bartholomay operated
in Milwaukee for 4. Both were in their cities longer than Sh*t was
in DC.

> Tim

Folks,

I don't want to start an argument or rehash "ancient" history,
but I have to agree with Tim. Personally, my feelings are that Bob
Short was professional sports original carpetbagger. Recall that Mr.
Short purchased the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers in 1957 for $ 300,000,
moved them to LA in 1960 and then sold the Lakers to Jack Kent Cooke
in 1965 for $ 5.5 million. Not a bad return on an 8 year investment.

Before the start of the 1969 season, the Senators were scheduled
to play 2 exhibition games against the Pittsburgh Pirates in
Louisville, KY. However, the field in Louisville was
deemed "unsuitable for play" and the esteemed Mr. Short recommended
that the exhibition games be played in Arlington, TX. In 1970, the
Senators also played exhibition games in Arlington against the
Montreal Expos. (In 1971, they played exhibition games against the
Oakland Athletics in Birmingham, AL.)

No one will ever sway me that Mr. Short didn't start counting
that Texas oil money about the time he purchased the Senators.

Art Audley
La Plata, MD

"Still a Senators fan!"