Mark Cuban Would Be Good for Baseball

It is no secret that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in purchasing the Chicago Cubs from current owner Sam Zell. However a source close to the higher ups in major league baseball has reported that the MLB and it's owners will block the sale of the Cubs to the Mark Cuban.

This is a horrible move by MLB and its owners if they keep Mark Cuban from purchasing the Cubs.

Mark Cuban is a lot of things. Some good, some bad, but mainly he is a great owner. The Dallas Mavericks were a team that was dead in the water before Cuban came along. Now they are a fixture in the NBA post season as well as in the headlines. Cuban took a football city and made them have a passion for basketball.

In owning the Chicago Cubs, Mark Cuban would do the same thing for baseball's lovable losers. The Cubs already have a national following, but with Cuban's backing the Cubs could gain the same amount of publicity and prominence as the Red Sox and Yankees.

Mark Cuban is a win first owner who cares about making money second. Cuban wants to to have winning teams and he will do whatever it takes to get his team over the hump.

It is unclear what the fear is over allowing Mark Cuban to own a MLB team. Baseball is a traditional game, and of course the old guard does not to be shaken up. However, the days of Mark Cuban's excessive on the court antics have passed. Outside of a hot press conference Cuban has been quiet as of late choosing to be a good owner. The only reason to keep Mark Cuban from owning a MLB team is the fear the Mark Cuban will help to expose the flaws in the current system.

Mark Cuban would be good for baseball. He would be the man to bring MLB into the 21st century.

CheezerAll-Star

369 days ago

Score 4

I agree that Cuban would be good for baseball.

According to Forbes Magazine, Cuban purchased the Mavericks for $280M in 200 and they are currently worth $403M. It appears that he likes to make money too, not just win games.

From Forbes, "In his six years as owner, Mark Cuban has turned the Mavs from a laughingstock into one of the NBA's best run teams on and off the court. Strong marketing, good player evaluations, and a fantastic arena, which Cuban owns half, make the Mavs a model NBA franchise. Last summer, the team took advantage of a one-time chance to avoid luxury tax payments on a single contract thanks to a clause in the NBA's agreement with its players' union. It released their captain, Michael Finley, who still gets his money but the deal saved Cuban $52 million in luxury tax payments over the next three years (it was the biggest savings of any team). In a league where players are required to dress up off the court, Cuban continues to stand out in his t-shirt and jeans."

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

369 days ago

Score 4

Oh there is no doubt that he likes to make money, but he knows how to win money and win games which is something too many baseball owners cannot do.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 2

This makes me very happy. Not because I don't want Cuban to own a baseball team though. Now that he can't own the Cubs the door is still open for him to buy the beleaguered Bucs right here in his home town of Pittsburgh. Gotta have dreams, right?

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

369 days ago

Score 2

Keep on dreaming there big fella

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 4

Sometimes it makes me laugh when people get all up-in-arms over owners like Cuban and Jerry Jones (is there something in the water in Dallas?). I think it is commendable that those two take such an interest in their teams. I wish more owners would watch the game from the field or court. That way they could really get a feel for what is going on down there. The proof is in the pudding, the Mavs and Cryboys are both extremely successful on the field and off.

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CheezerAll-Star

369 days ago

Score 3

Why pay your coach millions if you're going to be making decisions from the sideline? The owner's input takes place in his office after the game. Not from the sideline during the game. It just undermines the authority of the people that the owner put in charge.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 3

That is the exact type of "this is how it is done" hard headed thinking that is keeping Cuban out of baseball. And, how can you argue with the success of both the Cowboys and Mavs? I think there is a difference between having a passion for your team along with valuable input vs. undermining your employees. Al Davis is clearly ruining his team. But, it seems to me that Cuban and Jones (moreso Cuban) are able to walk the fine line. I don't think every owner is cut out to manage that way, but some, like Cuban, can. I work for a company whose owner put his personal office right smack in the middle of the entire office. He sacraficed the corner office with the windows so that he could be among his employees. When he is not doing whatever it is he does in his office he is walking around talking with employees. No one feels undermined or threatened and the company has been around since 1887 and is making record profits in the middle of a recession. I really feel like it depends on the owner.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 2

Of course it could just be one awesome sales engineer that is responsible for the record profits :)

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CheezerAll-Star

369 days ago

Score 4

I agree with your take on Cuban. I was considering Jones more than anything else. I feel that The Cowboys have been successful in spite of Jones, not because of him. Take a long look at there history and you will find that the crucial people have been Landry, Johnson, and Parcells. Not Jones. The best thing that he did was fleece the Vikings in the Walker trade (I think he made that move).

You didn't answer my question, ST. Why pay a coach millions if you're going to be telling him what to do either from the sideline during the game or through the press. The owner's input belongs behind the scenes. Furthermore, there is a big difference between an owner that comes down from his Ivory tower to walk and talk with the peasants and an owner who butts his nose in at the eleventh hour and undermines what the team has been working on for a long time.

Before you get all agitated saying that as owner, he can stick his nose where ever he wants, I want to explain where I'm coming from. He pays coaches millions to run the day to day operations of his team.

As a Project manager, I like to empower my team to complete their tasks. I watch them but I don't dictate to them or undermine them in front of their underlings or their teammates. That is counterproductive. I have found that most people excel when you give them some leeway and just establish guidelines. No one likes to be micro-managed.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

369 days ago

Score 3

Jerry Jones is a helluva a owner and he put the Dallas Cowboys back on the map when they were left for dead. He has made some gutsy moves that have backfired, but he is just a river boat gambler much in the same way Bobby Bowden is down at fsu. Al Davis is an owner who undermines his team. Jones protects his investment.

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JuTMSY4Legend

369 days ago

Score 3

Jones also took the cowboys off the map if I'm not mistaken...

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 3

Well, I thought it was a rhetorical question :P But, I think there is a difference between overriding the occasional decision and undermining the authority of your subordinates. Like I said, I think it depends on the owner with Cuban being the example of an owner who can get his hands dirty without interfering and Al Davis being the opposite extreme. I would put Jones somewhere in the middle but closer to Cuban. I agree that no one wants to be micro managed. That's how you lose employees. But I also think that some owners can get a much better feel of whats going on if they are "in the shit" vs. being in the luxury suite. I really don't disagree with you for the most part. My disagreement is with the blanket statement that owners don't belong on the field. I think every owner and every team is a different situation with Cuban being the exception not the rule. But, because of that sort of one size fits all belief Cuban is being black balled from MLB '(where he could really help the Pirates)'

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

369 days ago

Score 2

Off the map? we're talking about them right now arent we? They are the biggest story in the league this year despite an average record. You're just bitter and angry for no reason JT and enjoying hating on all things Cowboys related.

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Steel TownDraft Pick

369 days ago

Score 2

The only reason they are a big (I wouldn't say biggest) story in the NFL is because they are a colossal disappointment this year.

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CheezerAll-Star

369 days ago

Score 1

We talk about the Cowboys because the NFL wants us to. Their week 7 game against the Rams is the only game that was only televised regionally. Every other week, they were televised over a large geographic portion of the country.

For some reason, the NFL thinks we want to watch them week in and week out.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

368 days ago

Score 1

"The nfl wants us to..." Are you a f-ing kidding me? If you dont want to talk about it, you don't have to. That simple it's the joy of blogging you make the news you make the headlines. To say you are being feed lines by the media is a cop out

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CmdrporterWaterboy

368 days ago

Score 1

Seems to me that the league management teams and Commis don't want Cuban in the league. I am lucky to have meant him on a couple of trips into Dallas over the years and he is a real down to earth kind of guy. He doesn't sit at the baseline and yell at the refs or coaches for that matter and lets the management teams run their teams as they seem fit. There is no question in my mind that he would be a great owner in MLB and would bring some of the fun back into the game, like Moreno lowing the prices of beer and hotdogs, Cuban would do something to help the fans that can't always afford to go to a Cubs gamel, but that is something we will not see anywhere in the distance future because the powers that be won't allow him in the game. Maybe the fans should stand up and be counted and voice their opinions about having him own the Cubs and by doing that put alot of pressure on MLB to sell him the team. Pipedream I know but something to think about just the same. I remember the first time by father the oldest man told me to a Cubs game early in 1950 and the stadium really hasn't changed that much since. Maybe if everyone started writing to MLB and voicing there opinions on allowing Cuban to own the Cubs would show some of them how most everyone feels. I am a Angels fan from the early 50's in LA as a Pacific Coast League Team until now but I remember going to opening day when the Dodgers came into town and the exhibition game of over 96,000 at the LACol. Go MajorLeagueBaseball and like my father to hell with the agents that are ruining the game and the umpires that are also hurting the outcomes with some of the worst calls ever.

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Taytay 24All-American

368 days ago

Score 3

Overall, I would say both Jones and Cuban are good owners, and MLB would definitely be making a mistake if they barred Cuban. Both care deeply about winning and will not let payroll dictate the product on the field/court. Strangely enough, this approach has made them both quite a pile of money.
But with the good, you take the bad, and here is the pitfall for both: their emotional attachment to their teams drives them to win, but it also clouds their judgment. Both have held on to players or systems too long in an attempt to rekindle the magic. The Cowboys were very successful in Jerry's early days, but then suffered for years because he kept looking for the "final piece of the puzzle" when everyone else already knew it was past time to move on. They have just come out of that funk recently, and it unfortunately looks like they already reached their peak and are on the way down again. The Mavericks have had their glory, but they just missed the ring and are in a clear decline, but Cuban is still making desperate moves to make it work and it just isn't going to happen. All this does is delay the rebuilding process as the teams are mired in mediocrity with an owner who doesn't know when to fold.

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Simms1156Div-I Stud

365 days ago

Score 0

Jerry Jones vs. Mark Cuban in a cage match. I would love that. Go Mark Cuban!

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