Biz of Baseball Organizational Report - LA Dodgers

The following is a continuation of our Organizational Reports (index.php?option=com_content task=blogcategory id=59 Itemid=124), filed by Devon Teeple. As with the prior reports for San Diego Padres (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=2257 Itemid=124) , the Toronto Blue Jays (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=2070 Itemid=124), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=2158 Itemid=124), this report delves into the San Diego Padres historically, financially, and from a facility perspective. -- Maury Brown The glory years of the Dodgers are obviously behind them. Gone are the days of Kirk Gibson and Tommy Lasorda, welcome the days of Frank McCourt and Ned Colletti. The Dodgers live in the minds of most baseball fans and historians as a franchise of historic glory. 43 Hall of Fame Players, 7 Hall of Fame Managers/Scout/Coaches, and 4 Broadcasters. You can lay claim that they are one of the most significant innovators in baseball; having led baseball's move to the west coast, broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson, televised the first baseball game ever (at Ebbets Field in 1939) and introduced the batting helmet in 1941. Since the ultimate Dodger championship year of 1988, the Dodgers have been a stranger to post-season. Despite the sluggishness of late, this is still a franchise that has earned its reputation for success with six World Championships and twenty-one pennants, nine Cy Young Award winners, ten MVPs and an incredible sixteen Rookie of the Year recipients. If you look at the Los Angeles Dodgers from a financial perspective, the team is in the driver’s seat. The Dodgers are no longer just a Major League Baseball team, but a product that has accentuated the positives and has made itself into something bigger. Other professional sports teams that have joined this realm of status are the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, and the New York Knicks. These are no longer events to attend a sporting event, though that is the main idea, it is now a gathering of Hollywood A-Listers and high profile celebrities; Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Ron Howard, Larry King, Shia LaBeouf, Matt Leinart, Jay Leno, Al Michaels, Freddy Prinze Jr., Tiger Woods, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.News Corp. Purchases Dodgers The transition from baseball team to high profile gathering spot began in the late 1990’s, specifically on March 19, 1998 with the purchase of the team by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, owner of the Fox Network (which owns broadcast rights to MLB games) and 20th Century Fox., (In 2007, Fox no longer has rights to League Division Series games, and has only one League Championship Series per year.) One of the new owners first moves was to trade away highly popular catcher Mike Piazza and on June 21, 1998 (http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/la/history/timeline11.jsp) the Dodgers fired general manager Fred Claire (read The Biz of Baseball interview with Fred Claire (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=108 Itemid=81)) and manager Bill Russell. Tommy Lasorda is hired as interim general manager, Glenn Hoffman is named interim manager. Hoffman’s interim stay was just that, replaced by “celebrity manager” Davey Johsnon the following season. Fans were used to the O’Malley’s way of running a team, hands on and personal and development through the ranks; from 1992-1996 the Dodgers had the rookie of the years in their organization. Murdoch’s corporation was a little different giving out enormous contracts to players such as Kevin Brown, and Darren Dreifort. This inevitably tied up money that could have been used for others things. Though Murdoch and his team ran things a little differently, the team did achieve some success as a franchise and personally through the players. The team did not make the playoffs again until 2004, which will be discussed later on, but attendance has increased nearly 30% since 1998, with a team that has not enjoyed nearly the amount of success they have had in the past. Of all the Major League baseball teams currently in existence, the Angels and the Dodgers rank second on the list behind the New York Yankees in with the population of their respective cities. New York City has a population of 18.323 million while Los Angeles is second with 12.366 million.Select Read More (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=2297 Itemid=1) to see the rest of the Dodgers Organizational Report