Turner to Show for Dodger Vote

The Ted and Rupert Show is expected to take center stage at the major league owners meeting today.

Rupert Murdoch won’t be here--he’s not yet a member of the owners’ fraternity and is out of the country on business--but Ted Turner, the Atlanta Brave owner who has never made an effort to hide a personal dislike for his longtime cable and business rival, is scheduled to make a rare appearance to try to persuade National League owners to join him in voting against Murdoch’s acquisition of the Dodgers.

“Ted is very passionate on this issue,” Brave board chairman Bill Bartholomay said Tuesday night after attending an executive council meeting.

The extent of that passion can be measured by the fact that baseball officials said they could not remember Turner attending an owners meeting since March 1989, when Peter Ueberroth chaired his last meeting as commissioner. Bartholomay and Brave President Stan Kasten usually represent the club at owners meetings.

Bartholomay said he couldn’t predict what Turner would say, but “his feelings about Rupert are pretty clear.”

Turner has compared Murdoch to Hitler and the Prince of Darkness at various times and said, “I don’t like him, don’t respect him and don’t trust him.”

It isn’t clear if he intends to voice similar sentiments today, when American and National league owners meet separately. They will vote on the Dodger sale in a joint meeting Thursday. The purchase requires only majority approval in the American League but three-fourths approval in the NL, where five negative votes could kill it.

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig would not comment on Turner’s anticipated appearance today but said, “There are a lot of clubs with strong opinions on both sides of the issue.”

The concerns have been chronicled. Will Murdoch spend lavishly on players? Will he ignore baseball regulations governing international telecasts? Will he affect local revenue streams through his cable contracts with 22 of the 30 teams?

Selig said the sale was discussed at length during Tuesday’s 4 1/2-hour meeting of the ruling executive council but that the council did not take a position.

Selig, however, is known to be a supporter of the sale and seldom calls for a vote unless he knows the outcome.

“I have great personal relations with Chase Carey and everyone at Fox,” Selig said, referring to the chairman of Fox Television. “They have been an outstanding partner [in the TV package].”

Baseball officials have maintained for some time that the sale will be approved, and a well-connected AL owner said Tuesday he considers it a given.

“Ted is going to try and twist some arms, but there’s not more than three National League clubs against it,” the owner said.

Those three are the Braves, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

In the meantime, the executive council was briefed Tuesday night by Colorado Rocky owner Jerry McMorris on the search for a commissioner, and McMorris, chairman of the search committee, later said the list of candidates has been narrowed to about five and that he expected to make a recommendation before the June owners meeting in Seattle.

NL President Leonard Coleman remains a candidate, but many in baseball continue to believe that Selig will be the choice.