I am passionately in love with the game of baseball, and more specifically, the Cincinnati Reds. I love the game. I loved learning about the game growing up, I loved listening to Marty and Joe until I fell asleep at night in elementary school (including west-coast games, of course), I loved learning about statistics, I loved reading the box scores every morning, I loved trying (very poorly) to play the game as a kid, I love following the game today.
I was so excited when Carl Lindner bought the Reds a few years ago. I figured, like many other fans in this fine city, that he would bankroll the team and make it a winner. He’d buy a great coaching staff, buy the necessary free agents, and the team would be great again.
At first, things looked to be going just that way. He authorized the contract extension of team captain and hometown hero, Barry Larkin. A few months later, he approved the acquisition and huge contract extension of Player of the Decade and member of the All-Century Team, Junior Griffey.
A few years later, I wanted him to sell the team. It was clear that his signing of Larkin was just a p.r. move. It was clear that he didn’t care whether or not the team won as long as the team was profitable. Griffey wasn’t brought in to help the team win, Griffey was brought in to put butts in seats. Last year, I was so excited to hear that he was selling.
I watched the new ownership press conference on webcast at reds.com on Friday afternoon. I cried. Yep. I cried. I heard an owner talk about winning, and anything other than winning being unacceptable. I heard an owner being candid with the fans. I heard an owner identifying himself as the team’s biggest fan.
Lindner may have many many millions of dollars in the bank, but I guaran-dang-tee that I am a much bigger fan of the Cincinnati Reds than he could ever be. Castellini, on the other hand, sounds like a much bigger fan of the Cincinnati Reds than I am. Which would you rather have as the owner of your favorite team? The guy with more cash in the bank? Or the guy who says that anything other than winning is unacceptable?
The full transcript is here, but please allow me to share the two parts that still get me a little choked up, more than 48 hours later:
We’re buying the Reds to win. Anything else is unacceptable. We will not rest until we are putting a contender on the field … year in and year out.
My wife, Susie, has a pillow in our living room. Stitched right into that pillow is the phrase, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” In our Reds organization, if our fans ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. That is going to be our driving force. We will create a winning team worthy of the
unwavering loyalty of our fans. We are America’s first professional baseball team. We believe that once again we will be the best. We’ve seen (in St Louis) how a winning organization shines a national spotlight on our community and our region. That’s what this community deserves. We look forward to bringing championship baseball home for all of us.–Robert Castellini, new owner of the Cincinnati Reds
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