Marlins’ Owner Willfully Accepts Challenge

Soft-spoken and self-effacing, John Henry is not the image of a steel-driving man--which is not to say he isn’t driven.

In fact, the ‘W’ in John W. Henry appropriately stands for William, which shortens to Will, a trait he considers essential.

“There is no limit to what a person can accomplish through will and discipline,” the new owner of the Florida Marlins, attending the weekend series at Dodger Stadium, said. “Will has defined my life. Will consistently defies odds.”

A farmer’s son who dropped out of college, he turned a flair for mathematics into ownership of a company that manages more than $2 billion in commodities, trading for institutional investors such as banks and brokerage houses. He owns a 39,000-square-foot estate in Boca Raton, Fla., along with a helicopter, private jet and red Porsche (among other vehicles), and is now trying to defy the odds in another way.

With his $150-million purchase of the Marlins from Wayne Huizenga last winter, Henry is attempting to prove baseball can survive in South Florida, that he can get a retractable-roof stadium built with government help and that his painfully young team can become a contender in time.

“We’re committed to the team on the field,” he said. “Baseball requires more apprenticeship than any other sport. We knew that it wouldn’t be easy. We knew there aren’t any quick solutions.”

Henry’s purchase was approved in January. He bought a team that lost 108 games last year after being decimated by Huizenga’s insidious payroll purge of his 1997 World Series winner.

At 7-23 and coming off a 2-11 homestand, the 1999 team is on a pace to lose more than 108.

Scouts like the talent, but much of it is being force fed.

There are only two players older than 30 on the roster and 16 at 26 or younger. Of the active 25, only four remain from the World Series roster: Livan Hernandez, Cliff Floyd, Craig Counsell and Antonio Alfonseca.

The Marlin payroll bumped to $18 million this year, but $7 million of that is being paid to Alex Fernandez, who is on the disabled list because of a groin injury after his long recovery from shoulder surgery.

More than anything, the offense has struggled. Floyd, whom the Marlins signed to a four-year, $19-million contract in January, sat out most of April after knee surgery; third baseman Mike Lowell, obtained from the New York Yankees for three pitching prospects, was first sidelined by testicular cancer and recently by shoulder tendinitis; and first baseman Derrick Lee, an anticipated power source after hitting 17 homers last year, has stumbled out of the gate, batting .205 through Friday.

The offense has been so anemic that Matt Mantei, 25, the team’s heat-throwing closer who struck out 23 in his first 12 innings, did not have a save opportunity until Friday.

It’s one thing to be in the majors, another to be beaten down by defeat. Management is trusting the resiliency of youth, hoping the Marlins are too young to be scarred, dealing with the threat on an individual basis.

“I hate to sound like a jerk, but we just aren’t as bad as we’ve been,” Manager John Boles said. “We could have won four or five games with normal run production [on the homestand], but we went 2-11. That’s reality. That’s who we are. We know we’re going to be good, but what we don’t know is when.”

Young players need time, so there is no time frame, said General Manager Dave Dombrowski, who was the first choice of Fox to become general manager of the Dodgers before Kevin Malone was hired. Dombrowski, however, elected to return to Florida under the new owner, who was shocked, thinking the Dodger position was one of the top two in baseball and that his first job would be hiring a new general manager.

“I’d love to have the Dodger payroll and a chance to win this year, but I didn’t go back blindfolded,” Dombrowski said. “I knew the challenge, and that was part of the attraction in returning. We had started a job that needed finishing.”

Henry, 49, has the resources to help get it done, but is “not going to commit financial suicide. I want to put a competitive team on the field for 20 years, not spend 20 years paying off a stadium debt. If I have to build a stadium, we’re not going to be able to compete. As it is, we take no revenue out of Pro Player Stadium. We need a new facility, and I’m encouraged [by the political atmosphere in that regard]. I’m confident it will get done.”

The new owner developed a fondness for baseball--he would later own the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League and 1% of the Yankees--while charting pitching and batting averages listening to Jack Buck and Harry Caray broadcast St. Louis Cardinal games as a youngster growing up in Illinois, his first experience capturing trends, formulas and management theories.

He later spent 20 years in Southern California, audited classes at UCLA and UC Irvine and devised a system of mathematics and analysis aimed at defying those odds and beating blackjack, even writing a book about it. He ultimately extended the formula to the volatile world of commodities trading, making $75,000 on his first soybeans contract.

There is no easy formula in South Florida, of course. Henry has been on the phone, selling tickets, walking the stadium, shaking hands, trying to restore stability and confidence.

He preaches will, and his life reflects the value of it, but his young players may listen closest to infield coach Tony Taylor, who was a member of a similarly young Philadelphia Phillie team in 1961 that lost 107 games, including a record 23 in a row, but won 81 games the next year, 87 the next and 92 a year after that.

“I think this team has far more talent, more potential, and I keep telling them that after a year or two they’re going to break loose,” Taylor said. “We kept believing in ourselves in Philadelphia, and that’s what I tell these guys. They have to keep believing.”