June 2010 Archives

Ever since he became Commissioner of Baseball more than a decade ago, what Bud Selig has said about what’s “in the best interests of baseball” has been the law of the diamond — until now.

The commissioner has repeatedly put his seal of approval since last December on the proposed sale of the Texas Rangers by a Tom Hicks partnership, which contains other Hicks entities as general partners, to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan. But whether that sale closes will be made not by Selig but by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Lynn, who is presiding over the Rangers’ Chapter 11 proceedings filed in Fort Worth on May 24, 2010.

At a May 26 hearing, Judge Lynn directed the following statements on the record at Rangers CFO Kellie Fischer at the conclusion of her testimony: “Until such time as it is clear to me that all creditors are to be paid in full in this case, you are fiduciaries acting for the benefit of your creditors, and you’ve got to keep in mind that it doesn’t mean that you’re acting necessarily for the best interests of Major League Baseball. ... As an officer of a debtor-in-possession, the fiduciary duty you owe to your creditors and to your equity interest holders has to come first in this court.”

Lest there be any doubt about it, during the hearing, Judge Lynn stated emphatically on the record that he and not Major League Baseball “is in charge of the sale process.”

Two questions to answer

The following two questions will be answered soon by Judge Lynn after hearing arguments from the armies of lawyers representing Major League Baseball, the Greenberg/Ryan partnership, the Hicks entities and the 40 creditors on the short end of the $525 million default by Hicks’ Rangers-related companies last year:

The first question is, if MLB wants the Rangers sold to Greenberg/Ryan at the agreed-upon price of $575 million — made up of cash and debt assumption, and such price includes the purchase of the team and some surrounding land — and it is demonstrated to the court that Greenberg/Ryan’s price was not the highest offer made for the team, and another bidder is still ready, willing and able to pay more than $575 million, must the court approve of the sale to Greenberg/Ryan? Selig has said he expects no problem getting the required 75 percent from the league’s other owners should the time come for the up-or-down approval vote.

Asked another way, in light of all pertinent considerations, and recognizing that none of the losing bidders in last year’s bid process ever expressed any interest in moving the team away from North Texas, do the Rangers have the duty to maximize the amount of proceeds made from the sale of the team? This question is raised in the context that 1) Tom Hicks has stated publicly that there was no bid made by anyone else that exceeded Greenberg/Ryan’s bid, which would have been approved by MLB, 2) HSG Sports Group’s creditors insist that there was at least one bid materially higher than Greenberg/Ryan’s bid, and 3) the shortfall between the Greenberg/Ryan bid and the total owed to the creditors by Hicks’ Ranger-connected entities is reportedly at least $30 million.

Can creditors block sale?

Question No. 2 is this: Do Hicks’ creditors have enforceable rights under their loan documents and the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that empower them to block the team’s sale unless and until they consent to it?

Asked another way, because of having defaulted on their loans, have Hicks’ now (as of May 26) involuntarily bankrupt companies, which serve as general partners of the partnership which currently own the Rangers, forfeited their right to consent to the sale of the team, and because of the defaults, has such right to approve or disapprove of the sale to the ultimate purchaser been transferred over to Hicks’ lenders?

Legal briefs arguing all sides of the parties’ different answers to these questions will be filed with the court on June 11, and then nationally renowned lawyers will present oral argument on the two issues to Judge Lynn on June 15.

How the bankruptcy judge ends up answering the two questions will determine whether he chooses to reopen the bidding process with an auction sale of the team.

If the parties fail to achieve a settlement at the upcoming mediation ordered by the court, two things are for sure: 1) the person who will determine the fate of who gets to buy the Texas Rangers is not the Commissioner of Baseball and 2) the controlling issue in making the determination of who will be selected as the team’s ultimate purchaser is not about what “is in the best interests of baseball.”

In other words, to use the game’s parlance, in this collision at home plate over who will get to buy North Texas’ Major League Baseball team, Judge Lynn is safe, and Selig is out.

Read more: Texas Rangers sale — a collision at home plate - Dallas Business Journal

Fifty years ago, first-time author Harper Lee threw a 320-page stone into the ocean of literature, setting off a tidal wave that reverberates to this day. On July 11, 1960, Philadelphia-based publisher J.P. Lippincott released To Kill a Mockingbird to critical acclaim and a place atop the bestseller list, where it would stay for 80 weeks.

Lee’s book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, became the subject of a successful movie that opened in December 1962 (with Gregory Peck in his only Academy Award-winning role), and
sold more than 30 million copies in more than 40 languages, making it one of the 10 bestselling novels of all time.

In addition to the novel’s commercial success, the character of Atticus Finch, through Lee’s writing and Peck’s acting, has pointed generations toward the goal of becoming lawyers — not just run-of-the-mill lawyers, but lawyers aspiring to serve the bar with Atticus-like integrity, professionalism, and courage.

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Growing up in Casper, Wyo., in the '50s, Paul Rogers was a Phillies fan. Maybe it was because of his Pennsylvania grandfather. Maybe it was the red pinstripes. Whatever it was, it wasn't because the Phillies were good, because the brief, bracing era of the Whiz Kids had already come and gone.

But Robin Roberts remained, stalwart and indefatigable. Six years in a row, he won at least 20 games for Philadelphia. A seven-time All-Star, he completed more than half of his 609 starts.

Roberts threw high, hard and often, subsequently earning himself a pass into the Hall of Fame and a young Wyoming boy's imagination.

Rogers grew up to become a lawyer and dean of SMU's law school as well as president of the local SABR chapter. Any Dallas lawyer who likes baseball eventually meets Talmage Boston. At a luncheon before an old-timer's game in 1992, they ran into Roberts waiting on an elevator.

"Mr. Roberts, Paul Rogers is here, and you're his boyhood hero," Boston said.

"Do you have 10 or 15 minutes for a Coke?"

As it turns out, Roberts had a tee time. But he told them to come back the next morning. Over breakfast, a dream evolved into a partnership.

Like Boston, who would author a book on baseball's 1939 season, Rogers wanted to write. He just needed a subject. Not long after their first meeting, he called Roberts to propose a book on the Phillies. And to Rogers' surprise, Roberts agreed.

"I felt like the dog who chases the car and finally catches it," Rogers said.

"What do I do now?"

Over the next couple of years, he worked with his subject in Dallas and at Roberts' home in Temple Terrace, Fla. He accompanied Roberts on the road to interview old teammates. In Atlantic City, Rogers was checking into a hotel when Roberts stopped him.

"No, no," he said. "You're staying with me."

Eventually, Rogers and Roberts would write two books, The Whiz Kids and the 1950 Pennant and My Life in Baseball . Through Roberts, Rogers met the Whiz Kids as well as Duke Snider and George Kell.

The co-authors grew close. Roberts watched O.J. Simpson's ride in a white Bronco from Roberts' living room. The old fireballer even sat in on one of Roberts' law classes.

His take: "I think I could pass."

Meeting your idol is a dangerous proposition. Often they're not what you imagined or hoped. At risk is the loss of something precious.

Paul Rogers found Robin Roberts, who died recently at 83, to be bright, engaging, curious, argumentative, a sports nut, devoted family man and friend. And there was an added bonus.

"I got to be a roommate," he said, "with my hero."