Drayton McLane, who bought the Astros in 1992, officially announced his decision to put the team up for sale. The Astros have posted the fourth-best record in the National League since McLane bought the team and reached the 2005 World Series under his ownership. The Astros, who played in the Astrodome when McLane purchased the team, moved into Minute Maid Park in 2000.
The Astros don't figure to be big spenders this offseason, so it seems unlikely that the sale will impact the organization's offseason moves. However, uncertain ownership situations can handcuff teams, as fans of Texas' other MLB team know well.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle that he isn't interested in buying the Astros (Twitter link).
Very good for Astro fans
Sucks that Cuban isn’t interested but I bet Houstan fans are dancing in the streets singing “The witch is gone, the witch is gone.”
Hear ya there. Texas might finally get rid of the dumpster duo of ownership within a 365 day period? Could it happen?
I believe the proper parlayance (in terms of Drayton) is, “Ding dong the wizard is gone, the wicked wizard, Ding dong the wicked wizard is gone.”
Just a little bit of Harry Potter (no coincidental theme intended) and the Wizard of OZ.
Reservedly excited. I’m not sure if I can still root for them if the Bush family buys them.
20 bucks says Mark Cuban buys them.
I’ll take $20 on the Bush family. He has season tickets behind home plate (the Sr. that is). This is going to be interesting. I hope it doesn’t affect the Astros from a Basbeall perspective because I want to see them do well…But we’ll see.
Isn’t it standard procedure for a team owned by a Bush to riddled with steroid users? Maybe they can sign Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, and Rafael Palmeiro and rename themselves the Houston Syringes…
Yeah that whole “sample size of one” thing makes me say…no.
I don’t know if the Bushes are interested, but they do know more about baseball than Drayton did when he first bought the Astros. It would probably depend mainly on whether W. was interested because age is the main reason Drayton is selling and H.W. is more than 10 years older than Drayton.
Wonder if the Bush family is interested.
Remember that it wasn’t Minute Maid Park back then. In 2000-2001 it was known as ENRON FIELD. Ouch.
Hahah, I actually thought you were kidding. Then I looked it up….
And originally, it was going to be the Ballpark at Union Station, which was a nice name. Beats Enron Field, Astros Field, or the current name that I hate so much I won’t even mention it here.
It was never going to be the Ballpark at Union Station. The fans preferred that name, and that was the name while they waited on the naming rights, but for financial reasons it was always going to have a corporate name.
I’d snatch the Astros up as soon as I heard they were available if I was rich.
I’ll bid $1.35
$2.00
$2.01
no one’s going to outbid this.
Best name ever!
$5.00 Bob.
Mattress Mac I bet will be part of the group. I know Crane tried to buy the Rangers and backed out of the deal before, wonder if he would try? McLane wasn’t a bad owner as he spent the money, but I believe he meddled too much, but getting rid of Pam Gardner will be nice!
Yes, Mattress Mac needs to get involved in order that the team might have it’s third consecutive “Mac” as an owner.
Good call Cuban. Please pick up the phone and make the McCourts an offer they can’t refuse. Maybe half a billion, a couple parking lots for Frank, and free massages for life for Jamie will do it.
Jeff Bagwell and Las Vegas investors
Great just please no cheap skates. Atleast Drayton spent money and procurred us one of the nicest ballparks in the league.
It’s a nice ballpark when the roof is open. When it’s closed, which is virtually all the time, it’s like watching a game inside a large tin can. It’s never quite cool enough inside in the summer, and it’s unpleasantly loud. With the roof closed, it’s one of my least favorite ballparks in all of Major League Baseball, though it’s better than the Astrodome was.
That said, I can imagine a lot of worse owners than Drayton McLane. His predecessor, John McMullen, comes immediately to mind.
I think Minute Maid feels great with the roof open. I love the fact that we have a choice whether to have an open or closed roof. Keeps us away from game delays for the most part. I wish Cuban would buy the team. It’s understandable though.
At least its not like watching a game when in an Airplane hanger like it is in Arizona at chase field when the roof is closed. 😛
Everyone thinks all these baseball team owners are rich when all this is an expensive hobby for them. A new owner will lose money buying a team. The players are the ones who horde all the revenue and the fans/ television pays grown men hundreds of millions per year.
The real money that owners make off the teams really seems to come when the team is sold. For example, McCourt bought the Dodgers six years ago for $371 million and Forbes valued the club at $727 million earlier this year.
Bam I was about to say this. If owners really were getting shafted, then we would be the ones ‘owning’ the team and really getting shafted. Owning a pro sports team is like having a super stock.
They also take jobs like “Team CEO” and no doubt give themselves a nice paycheck for their services.
They exchange liquidity short-term for a high paycheck and the near-guarantee of appreciation long-term.
They also take jobs like “Team CEO” and no doubt give themselves a nice paycheck for their services.
They exchange liquidity short-term for a high paycheck and the near-guarantee of appreciation long-term.
Hey Mr. Drayton: Lenny Dykstra on line 1
I’ve been surfacing the Net today reading about Mark Cuban and the ‘Stros. Read the Levine report of Cuban not being interested in buying Astros. Great read. Also, read this report with Cuban telling Stephen Goff of The Examiner the same thing. Noticed Goff put the story out 30 min earlier.
examiner.com/houston-astros-in-houston/mark-cuban-…
drayton brought the franchise to new heights. he’s also the reason we’re at new lows (although, never nearly as low as the lastros days of the early 90’s). forcing gerry hunsicker out was the beginning of the end. ed wade’s doing his best, but it looks like this could be his second successful team that he doesn’t get to reap the benefits of.
thanks for trying drayton. now let’s get someone in here who knows how to run a baseball team.
wasn’t rudy guiliani’s name getting thrown around ownershipwise a couple year’s ago?
I wonder which three teams had better records in the NL during that same period?
Braves, Cardinals, and Giants in that order. Before this season, it was just the Braves and Cardinals. The Giants passed the Astros this season.
Since 1993:
ATL – 1651 W
STL – 1520 W
SF – 1505 W
HOU – 1500 W
I think the Dodgers are fifth with 1497 wins.
George Foreman has said he’d like to own the Astros, but isn’t interested in forming the investment group that it would require. Sounds like he’d be willing to be a part of such a group but doesn’t want to be the one organizing it.