San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Seidler, good man daring to be great
Sez Me … “The minute you walked in the joint, I could see you were a man of distinction, a real big spender.”
— “Big Spender” in “Sweet Charity”, a musical by Neil Simon
Peter Seidler is a comic book character. He is Bizzaro Peter, the anti-owner, Fredo Spanos to the contrary, a mild-mannered man who became a superhero after being bitten by a radioactive player agent.
He can’t do this. But he can do this.
He has become the opposite of what most baseball employers are or want to be. A spender — hey, a big spender — in a “market” in which history tells us the little hand basket should be enough, not the cart.
And, incredibly, he’s been getting shade for his high rolling, from the penurious owner in Denver to the commissioner, who makes $17 million a year for doing what?
“The commissioner (Rob Manfred) and I have talked,” Peter was saying during his daily walk. “We’re good.”
I admire Peter Seidler (I’d admire him even if he didn’t consider me acceptable).
As a good man who dares to be great.
As an owner with a spine — and a brain and a vision.
As a husband and father. As a humanitarian.
As a two-bout cancer survivor complicated by diabetes.
As a Padres owner who has fallen in love with his adopted city, despite its rash of warts, and his tireless work with the homeless.
As someone who grew up in the Dodgers’ family and now can’t stand the sight of them, who wants to beat them as Buddy Rich might machine-gun his snare drum.
As a man whose exceptional reputation as an astute businessman never has been questioned for a moment — until this baseball moment, which is different from all businesses, at a time when he should be getting a universal Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
But Peter is spending too much dough in a “small market,” spending hundreds of millions to build a lineup featuring Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts, not to mention starters Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell.
Damned if you spend, damned if you don’t. Jealousy is an ugly overcoat.
I’m sick of this small market crap. San Diego County has 3.3 million residents. If Petco isn’t sold out every night, it will be close. The team’s Fanfest looked like Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
Small market, my eye. Small thinking is much more like it.
Maybe it won’t work out. But it’s his money. He’s trying. And I’m guessing he can afford it. “Yes,” he says. “I can.” It appears Peter has more spending to do. Machado is opting out of his deal. Soto looms.
“What Manny has done for us, last year and for the last four years, has been very powerful,” he says. “He’s earned every right to be our No. 1 priority.”
And Soto?
“Yeah, we’re interested in keeping him, and he knows that.
“I talk to other owners. They’re friends, but they don’t tell me what they’re doing — and I don’t tip my hand. We’re turning over every rock to see what makes sense.”
He’s not out to change the course of mighty rivers (“It’s my franchise.”), even though The Washington Post refers to his spending spree as baseball’s most fascinating experiment. It’s not an experiment.
It’s a calling. …
New list of famous mustaches: 1. Hercule Poirot . 2. George Pernicano . 3. Peter Seidler .…
Aaron Rodgers emerges from four days in total darkness. This will be the first question he gets from a reporter: “What book did you read?” My question: “How good was your aim?” …
Is it dangerous to pursue a quarterback who went to Cal, but acts as though he was notorious there during the Summer of Love? …
Deion Sanders says he wants his quarterbacks at Colorado to be from “dual-parent families, with at least 3.5 GPAS.” So he’s recruiting Wally, the Beaver, Richie Cunningham, Theodore Huxtable, Little Ricky and Big Ricky Nelson .…
D coordinator Renaldo Hill has left the Judases and the comforts of Inglewood to join Vic Fangio in Miami. The J’s defense belongs to Brandon Staley, anyway, but let’s give Hill part of the credit — for blowing a 27-0 playoff lead. …
Don’t drop the ball. Larry Fitzgerald had more tackles in his 17-year career than dropped passes — 41 to 29. Not many made like that anymore. …
From Warren Sharp: Deshaun Watson’s contract hammers the Browns into a $55 million cap hit through 2026. A deep massage OK message. …
Tua is taking Judo lessons to learn how to fall and avoid concussions. Hard to believe an osotogari move is going to keep a 350-pound mastodon from slamming your glass body’s head on the turf. …
There was a time (long, long ago) when players (really, really) cared about the NBA All-star Game. Now they care. Less. The NBA won’t go the NFL way, to f lag basketball. It would require effort to pull the flags. …
Naismith always claimed the first man to dunk was a peach grower, but it more than likely was American Joe Fortenberry at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Joe, I wish you hadn’t. …
Dunks. Why aren’t we, as was the late John Nettles, more fascinated with the high jump?
Valery Brumel kicked the rim in Madison Square Garden. …
Baseball’s is the only all-star game in which the sport the players represent actually is played. …
So now Unsocial Medians are making fun of the 79-year-old president falling down a f light of stairs, when it was not him at all? And ask what’s on his forehead on Ash Wednesday? For senior moments? No matter your political bent, what if he were your dad? Twitter is an ugly place. …
For those not wise in journalistic ways — which means most of Twitter — it’s common for reporters to talk one-on-one to subjects before and after a press scrum. Sometimes the quotes are very similar but not exactly the same as were said at the PC. So don’t insult the pros for being professional, which you are not. …
Long Overdue Dept.: Just received a note from The Fabulous Don Franken, that his late dad, Al, our greatest track and field promoter, friend, and American original, is to be inducted into the L.A. City Sports Hall of Fame. Al was laps ahead of his time, a firm believer in amateur athletes getting paid. …
It’s sad to again see Pioneer Park’s giant eucalyptus trees lying on the ground above the old graveyard following a rain-and-wind event. I love those trees, but there’s an elementary school next door. Kids play there. Hate to say it, but the remaining trees should be removed. …
See where America’s Finest City and Sin City are racing down the stretch to become Major League Soccer’s 30th franchise. At what point does San Diego pick up a piano or pull a hammy? …
When Nixon said: “People react to fear, not love,” he wasn’t lying. …
About time: Pitch clocks. … See the Ham & Eggers have to fix 5,900 broken city street lights. Will that happen before potholes are filled? I drove around one under a broken lamp and Rodgers came out of it. …
Is bird watching really becoming a San Diego thing? I don’t think we should encourage angry drivers any more than we have to.