Who's in Charge?

I've been reading John Helyar's Lords of the Realm. It's a history of the great game of baseball from a business perspective, and was published in 1994, long before anyone really knew much about George W. Bush. Last night I was reading chapter 22 which talks about the new breed of owners that came along in the late '80s and early '90s, those who saw club ownership as a "vanity investment" useful for making the owner a big name. There were several owners around this time whose main reason for buying a baseball franchise was along the lines of "I'm rich but no one knows who I am." Anyway, I came across this passage about Dubya that made me laugh out loud. I thought I'd pass it along...

The president's son, also named George Bush, led a group that bought the Texas Rangers. Lost for years in the shadow of his father, the First Son's ownership of a baseball team suddenly made him a personage. Actually, he was only one of two general partners, the other being the brains of the operation. That was Rusty Rose, a Dallas sharpie who'd made a fortune shortselling stock. (He was sometimes called "Rusty the Mortician.") But Bush was the out-front guy, a role in which he exulted.

"Does he know he doesn't really run this team?" a writer once asked a Rangers official.

"No, no," said the official. "And don't you dare tell him."

| +Save/Share | |