George W. Bush
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[edit] Biography
George W. Bush, born July 6, 1946, is President of the United States of America. He was a minority owner of the Texas Rangers from 1989 through 1998, and managing general partner of the team from 1989 until he was elected Governor of Texas in 1994.
In April 1989, at age 42, Bush assembled a group of investors which bought an 86% share of the Rangers for $75 million. Bush received approximately a 2% share by investing $606,302 (over the course of three years), the first $500,000 of which was a bank loan, later repaid with Harkin Energy stock -- which set off an insider trading investigation against Bush. The partnership named Bush managing general partner of the team; a role in which Bush worked on media relations and to lobby for the public construction of a new stadium. The team paid Bush a salary of approximately $200,000.
In October of 1990, Bush's attempts to obtain a new stadium received open public support. Arlington Mayor Richard Greene devised a sales-tax hike of half-a-cent which will be raise $135 million in funds earmarked for the new ballpark. In January, 1991, voters approve the plan by a 2-to-1 margin. Using the powers of eminent domain, a quasi-governmental organization created by the state legislature and then-Governor Ann Richards, the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority (ASFDA), seizes thirteen acres of private property for the stadium plan. The ASFDA is named in two lawsuits over the seizure.
In April of 1991, the Rangers see newfound on-field success, as Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez make their Major League debuts. Jose Canseco joins the team in 1992, and Rafael Palmeiro, who was with the team since 1989, leaves in 1993. Canseco's book, Juiced, claims that Bush must have known about players using steroids, given the makeup of the team during Bush's tenure. Bush has denied knowing about any steroid use, suggesting that he was hands-off with player-personnel moves. However, the Los Angeles Times asked him why he traded Sammy Sosa to get Harold Baines, with this result:
- "He'd just come up [to the big leagues] and gotten a quick look," Bush recalled painfully. In 25 games, Sosa was batting a meager .238. Who could have predicted then that the Dominican native would become a superstar, slamming 66 homers for the Chicago Cubs in 1998 and dramatically dueling the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire for the all-time season home run record?
- Manager Bobby Valentine and General Manager Tom Grieve recommended the deal and he approved it, Bush remembered. "We were coming down the stretch, chasing Oakland. We were either going to kick in and stay or fade."
- The Rangers faded. Oakland won the pennant and the World Series. "It just didn't work out. Harold, he just didn't kick in."
Bush, partially due to his immediately-recognizable name -- his father, also George Bush, was President of the United States until January of 1993 -- was popular amongst fans, and soon around Texas as a whole. At one point, he even did radio play-by-play when Gonzalez broke up a no-hitter -- on the team's Spanish radio affiliate. "Un hit de Juan!," said Bush, "El primer hit de Texas del juego!"
One friend, Roland Betts, suggested that Bush's Rangers involvement was, from the get-go, a political maneuver by a 42-year-old nobody:
- "Before the Rangers, I told him he needed to do something to step out of his father's shadow. Baseball was it. He became our local celebrity. He knew every usher. He signed autographs. He talked to fans. His presence meant everything. His eyes were on politics the whole time, but even when he was speaking at Republican functions, he was always talking about the Rangers."
An interesting ESPN.com sidebar suggests the same, citing data from a Lexis-Nexis search:
- Articles that mention "George W. Bush" prior to 1/21/89 when news reports first cited him as possible buyer of the Rangers: 102
- Articles that mention "George W. Bush" and "Rangers" between 1/21/89 and 11/1/94, the day before he was elected governor: 2,234
In 1993, Bush announces his intention to run for Governor of Texas against Richards, a popular incumbent. A few months later, in April 2004, The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington -- Bush's crowning achievement as general partner -- opens, ushering in league-leading crowds. However, Bush, busy with his campaigning, took a leave of absence from the team before the season began, and was rarely around during the season. The Rangers are 52-62, bit in first place in the AL West, when the season screeches to a strike-induced halt. By all accounts, Bush had been against the work stoppage, although did not take a leading role in the negotiations, as he was busy seeking political power.
Bush won the 1994 Governor election and resigns as managing general partner of the teams soon thereafter, but retains his ownership of the team -- 1.8% for his investment plus another 10% contingent on the sale of the team. The 10% "bonus" was for his work assembling the investment group and for his time as managing general partner. Many believe that Bush's bonus for gathering investors is more puffery than fact -- then-Commissioner Peter Ueberroth allegedly said that "Bush deserves greate credit for the development of the franchise, however, the bringing together of the buying group was the result of [others]."
Bush and his partners sold the team to Tom Hicks in 1998 for $250 million, or at roughly three-times the investment price. Bush's stake was worth $14.9 million, including the 10% bonus. That is, while most owners received a 3x return, Bush's was approximately a 25x return -- not including his salary.
In 1999, the Hicks-owned Rangers agree to pay the ASFDA $22.2 million to cover costs that the agency incurred over the litigation.
