Kuhn’s Memoirs Tell of Attempts to Bring Baseball to Washington

It’s important to remember who your friends are. In baseball circles, Washington has had no greater ally than Bowie Kuhn. In light of his freshly published memoirs, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Kuhn has been Washington’s only inside benefactor.

If you want to know the skinny on how Bob Short absconded to Texas in 1971, or why nobody in Washington had the ready cash to bring the San Diego Padres here in 1973, or why Kuhn offered his resignation as commissioner in 1976 when Washington was bypassed for an expansion team, then, “Hardball, the Education of a Baseball Commissioner,” fills in many gaps.

And if you want to know about the future of baseball in Washington, then ask Kuhn. Because, hands down, he cares more about the issue than anybody else.

The biggest revelation in “Hardball” is the depth of Kuhn’s outrage over the Senators leaving Washington and the wide range of zealous stratagems and back-room deals he tried to engineer to get a team back.

“Hardball” is an above-the-belt, but bareknuckles book--a score-settling piece of unashamed self-defense. Who guessed that ol’ Bowie would turn out to be the Jim Bouton of commissioners? With Kuhn brushing back an entire lineup of old foes, there’s no reason to think he’s gilding the lilly when he says, “Failing to get a team for Washington was . . . the toughest defeat I suffered.”

When Toronto got a team in ’76 and no provision was made for Washington, Kuhn was so furious that he submitted his resignation as baseball’s czar. “As you all know,” Kuhn wrote to the owners, “we have failed to keep a commitment regarding Washington. While many in baseball honestly differ with this assessment, I ultimately have to live with my own view of it and my own conscience.”

“My letter of resignation is a secret that never got out,” Kuhn said recently on a book-tour visit to here. Kuhn only withdrew that resignation after getting “absolute assurance of support on returning baseball to Washington” from the game’s owners.

Kuhn believes the owners’ promise to him is still in place. “I certainly do,” he said. “I think Peter (Ueberroth) understands that I feel that way . . .

“After the Senators left in ‘71, I locked that promise (of first priority for a team in Washington) in place, put it right out in front of them. When they reneged on that promise, I resigned. I only withdrew my resignation after they told me that they were prepared to back me up in the future.

“It’s ironic. Baseball has not expanded since then and no team has moved, so their promise hasn’t been put to the test,” Kuhn said. “I don’t think Peter would feel the compulsion (to put a team in Washington) just for me. He’d do what was best for baseball at the time as he saw it. But I think Peter’s views of expansion are very much like mine. He’s for it. And he likes Washington a great deal.

“Ueberroth’s his own man. So individualistic. But I certainly think he would enjoy the coincidence if the policy when I left office--pro-expansion and pro-Washington--became a reality.”

“Hardball” is the best insider’s chronicle so far of how Washington got where it is today. In Kuhn’s view, the Senators left, and were not replaced, for one reason--the Washington business community failed.

“I was out on the thin end of a limb in ‘71,” Kuhn said. “People couldn’t believe how strongly I was coming on about keeping Short from moving. I was risking my job. But I got no support whatsoever from business people in Washington. Not the banks. Not potential ownership groups. Everybody just said, ‘Nice to see you, commish.’ ”

Only Joe Danzansky--whom Kuhn calls “one good soul”--emerged as an even remotely feasible buyer. And he couldn’t get his financing together.

“I just need a little more time,” Danzansky pleaded at an owners’ meeting. “As he left the room, I knew we were doomed,” writes Kuhn. “No Washington leader came forward offering any alternative. Did anybody care?”

By December of 1973, when the Padres were not only available, but almost in Washington’s pocket, Danzansky was still the only money man in sight. And he was still far out of his financial depth, trying to pull off a civic-minded gesture on a shoestring.

“It was 1973 that killed us in 1976,” said Kuhn Tuesday. “It was like the owners were saying, ‘We gave you your chance in ’73.’ ”

So, baseball settled a legal fight by putting a team back in Seattle and expanded to much-coveted Toronto.

“The big change between Washington in 1987 and back then is that the business community will back the deal now,” Kuhn said. “If Peter put up the green flag today, it would look like an Oklahoma land rush. They’d be breaking down that wall to put up their money.

“In the ‘70’s, Washington couldn’t come up with $10 million. A couple of years ago, when expansion was a hot topic, Washington had potential ownerships with assets in the several hundreds of millions of dollars.”

In 1985, Kuhn wanted to be a front man for such a group. Now, he says that’s out of the question. “I wouldn’t be a hands-on guy now. I’d help a syndicate coalesce and present its case. And the title ‘chairman of the board’ has a nice ring to it. But, as for real day-to-day involvement, no. I’ve gotten involved with too many other projects now.”

For the present, Kuhn believes that, “The owners have their minds turned against expansion. When Peter took office (in October of 1984), he gave expansion high priority, but the owners said, ‘Too fast.’ He may have been ahead of the parade. Now, he has to wait until they are ready.”

But when will they be?

“Baseball either expands when it has a (legal or political) gun to its head or when it feels good about its financial position--when it feels ‘expansive,’ ” Kuhn said. “It’s a good sign for expansion that the game’s economics seem to be coming back into equilibrium.”

If that expansive day comes, Kuhn will be a key man for Washington, because he is the only central player in the baseball picture who makes the case for Washington with true passion.

“I don’t think this exhibition game (between the Mets and Phillies at RFK Stadium on April 5) is a ‘test.’ It would be nice if RFK was filled, but I don’t think Washington needs to be tested,” Kuhn said. “I also don’t question that this enormous (Baltimore-Washington) market could support two teams. I’m sure it could. I want to see Ed (Williams) continue to succeed in Baltimore. But Baltimore shouldn’t be viewed as a key question. That only comes into play if a Washington team would destroy an Oriole franchise. It wouldn’t. It’s not like the Oakland-San Francisco situation.”

Many who read “Hardball” will be surprised to discover that a dispassionate man has written a passionate book. “Well, bleep, did people expect me to blast those guys while I was still in office? You gotta keep some sense of decorum,” Kuhn said.

It may be even more of a shock to learn that no subject in his 15 years in office moved him more deeply or attracted more of his attention than trying to get baseball for Washington.

Kuhn carried Washington’s water for a long time and virtually alone. Because he did, the way may someday be open for others on a better day.