legendsport
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Behind The Lens
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February 20, 1950: Washington, DC:
Dan Barrell had been summoned. So, he took a taxi from the Omni Scouting Association's headquarters on H Street to the Grand Point Hotel on the corner of 3rd and E Streets. The morning traffic around the government area slowed the trip, giving Dan additional time to think.
Upon arrival, Dan stifled a sigh of frustration while paying the driver. Stepping from the cab, the doorman greeted him with the slick politeness of an experienced hotelier, opening the door as Dan nodded his thanks and entered the opulent lobby.
Dan had been in the hotel several times; it was the chosen venue for most of the various owners' and Board of Governors' meetings, located only a few blocks from the surprisingly small offices of the FABL President on North Carolina Avenue. If he accepted the job he'd been offered, that office would soon be his.
As he crossed the immaculate blue carpet towards the elevators, Dan reflected on the choice he was facing.
He thought of the discussions he'd had with both his partner, Thomas Potentas, and his wife.
Potentas, an old and dear friend of Dan's late father, had offered some surprisingly Rufus Barrell-like advice: to do what felt right in Dan's heart. Gladys had been more practical.
"This would mean a larger salary," she pointed out.
Dan nodded in agreement. "True. This is where my father would mention that money isn't everything," he said with a wry grin.
"Yes, he would, and he would be right. But money should be a factor, regardless," Gladys said. "There's also the simple fact that the OSA is your father's legacy. He built it with Thomas and hand-picked you to succeed him as Director," she added.
"That is what is holding me back," Dan admitted. "Pop poured many years of his life into this, and it would almost feel like a betrayal to leave."
"Your father would understand, Dan. In fact," Gladys told him, "I think he'd tell you that you had to accept it for the greater good of the game."
Dan smiled. That did seem like what his father would have told him.
"Yes, he'd probably say, 'think of all the good you could do for the players' or words to that effect," he said with a sad smile as he remembered his father, who always thought of the players as people, not simply assets, as so many of the FABL owners saw them.
Gladys nodded. "And he'd be right," she agreed.
Dan nodded. "The President does work for the owners, dear," he pointed out. "I'm surprised they'd even offer me this job, given my background as a player."
Gladys shook her head and grabbed Dan's hand. "Give yourself some credit, Dan. You've done a fantastic job here at OSA. Everyone knows that Thomas, as well-meaning as he is, could never hold this together alone." She then listed all the accomplishments the OSA had enjoyed under Dan's stewardship.
"Right. And if I leave the OSA, who takes over?" he asked.
Gladys' mouth twisted in a knowing grin. "I can think of someone," she said.
Dan couldn't help himself - he laughed out loud. "You really want this job?" he asked.
She did. And for every negative he pointed out she was a woman, the club owners wouldn't respect her, etc., etc. she said she'd prove herself. And Dan knew she would: Gladys was a terrifyingly efficient woman and brilliant to boot. She was probably the smartest person he knew, including his brother Rollie, whom most of the family agreed was a genius.
"It'll be difficult," he said. "Very difficult."
Gladys shrugged. "Just let them try to stop me," she said, and Dan saw grit and determination in her eyes.
"Thomas would have to approve, and he's very Old World," Dan pointed out.
Now it was Gladys' turn to laugh. "I have Thomas wrapped around my finger," she said. "He won't be a problem."
It turned out she was right - Thomas was downright enthusiastic about the idea when Dan broached the subject later that day. Dan almost felt insulted, thinking that perhaps the older man wanted him to leave. Thomas saw the look on his face and went to great lengths to disabuse him of that notion.
All of that had taken place the previous week, and Dan still had not made a decision as he stepped off the elevator and headed for the meeting room.
As he walked towards the meeting room, the door opened, and Sam Belton stepped out. The FABL President had never been a big man, and age had both wizened him and seemed to shrink him as well. He saw Dan coming and smiled.
"Hello Dan!" he said warmly, shaking hands (with Dan being careful not to squeeze too hard).
"They're in there, waiting for you," Belton said. "You know, they offered your father this job once upon a time," he added. Dan did know this and knew Rufus had felt he wasn't up to the challenge and turned it down.
Dan nodded, his mouth set in a line.
"Your father would be so proud," Belton added.
"Thank you, Sam," Dan said warmly, patting the old man on the shoulder.
"They're all here, all sixteen of them, plus the new fellows of course," Belton said.
Dan nodded again, remembering that his decision wasn't the only matter the owners were handling: they were finishing up the details of the dismantling of the Great Western League and voting on not one, but three separate ownership changes.
Belton snapped Dan out of his reverie as he said, "If you can wait here a moment, I'll escort you in." He dropped his voice and added, "I need to use the restroom." Then he winked at Dan and walked stiffly down the hall.
Dan waited silently, lost in thought. Could he really do this?
Ten minutes later, Sam Belton led Dan into the conference room. The twenty people in the room all looked his way as Dan entered. He knew them all by sight, well, almost all of them, he admitted to himself. He recognized Tom Bigsby, though he'd never met him, and figured the men with him were probably the other Great Western League owners. There was a young woman staring at him for some reason. He scanned the room, trying to decipher which club she might be representing, and surmised she must be Jesse Barton's daughter.
This was confirmed a moment later when she joined him at the coffee station as he was making himself a cup.
"You look just like Harry," she said, in a tone that hinted that she either knew Harry well or very much wanted to know Harry better.
Dan kept a straight face as he mentally hoped Harry wasn't going to get himself in a bind with this woman. "I would say he looks like me," he said with a friendly smile, "I'm the older brother, after all."
She laughed, and it seemed genuine. "You're funny too," she said.
"I take it you're Miss Barton?" Dan asked.
"Indeed I am, Ruth Barton, and it is nice to meet you, Mr. Barrell," she said as she thrust a hand out. Dan was taken aback but just for a split-second before he shook her hand.
"Please call me Dan," he said. "I guess you know Harry because he plays for your father?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, I have been taking a greater hand in the club," she purred. "My father is 82 years old, you know, and he isn't quite as sharp as he once was," she added.
As he listened, Dan was trying to remember what he knew about Barton's family. He vaguely remembered there being a son.
"Is your brother involved too?" he asked, having decided to take a shot in the dark.
Her face darkened, but briefly, as she quickly recovered. "My half-brother Reginald is... involved, yes."
"Ah-ha," Dan thought, covering it with a sip of coffee. "I won't be so impolite as to ask how you'll vote, but since your father is a board member and approved the job offer, I trust nothing has changed on that front," Dan said, wishing he could extricate himself from the conversation.
"Yes, we are definitely in favor," Miss Barton replied, and then gave him a look Dan would characterize as.... hungry... as she added, "You really do remind me of Harry."
Thankfully Billy Whitney chose that moment to intervene. "Dan, Ruth, what are you two conspiring about?" he asked.
"Oh, we're just getting to know each other," Ruth Barton replied. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said and then walked away. Dan and Whitney watched her for a moment, Whitney remarking, "That is a dangerous woman."
Dan nodded and said, "I did get that distinct impression. She seems to have a fixation on my brother Harry."
Whitney tsked and remarked, "I hope he's got plenty of that famous Barrell moral fiber."
Dan gave Whitney a sidelong look, thought about how Whitney and Joe Barrell had catted around Los Angeles twenty years earlier and said with a smirk, "I certainly hope so."
There was some more chit-chat with various people. Dan met Tom Bigsby who also knew Harry, causing Dan to think how he and his brothers had always felt their father knew every ballplayer on Earth and Dan found himself taking a liking to the man, especially when he said, "Don't hold me being a Bigsby against me... I'm the white sheep of the family."
Finally, it was time to discuss his candidacy.
Dan gave an inward groan when Bernie Millard stood up. He glared at Dan as he started speaking: "As most of you know, I was outvoted three-to-one on this matter in the Board meeting. My opposition to Mr. Barrell's candidacy rests on one point and one point only: he is a former player and I want assurances that he will act in the best interests of FABL itself, remembering that he will be working for us. And not against us."
Well, Dan reflected, there it was. And he knew Millard would raise this issue. The man was an inveterate opponent of any and all labor movements. The word 'union' was literally a four-letter word for Millard.
Billy Whitney spoke up, saying, "I believe Dan Barrell will always work in the best interests of the game, Bernie."
Now Millard turned that steely glare at Whitney. "We are the game, Mr. Whitney. And Mr. Barrell will need to assure me that he will always remember that. The players are ephemeral, the game, and the clubs, are institutions."
Whitney looked at Dan, and nodded. Dan stood up and said, "I will always act in the best interests of baseball, without prejudice to any party," he said.
Millard's frown deepened. That probably wasn't the answer he was seeking.
"Anyone else have something they'd like to ask our candidate?" Whitney asked in his role as chairman.
Dan Prescott stood. The Brooklyn owner had, once upon a time, been Dan's employer (along with his brothers Tom, Fred, and Harry). "It's good to see you, Dan," Prescott said. Dan took that as a good sign, so he was surprised when Prescott followed this by saying, "I know the Barrells perhaps better than most in this room, having employed them as players and now employing Tom as my field manager. And I want to remind Mr. Daniel Barrell that the 'B' in FABL does not, in fact, stand for 'Barrell' but instead for 'Baseball,' and he will need to remember that if he is to take on the mantle of FABL President."
The assembled owners began whispering to each other. Dan frowned, unsure where this insulting tidbit had originated. Beside him, Sam Belton whispered, "Prescott, I think, is on his way out. He's gotten bitter in these last few years. This smacks of simple jealousy about the sterling reputation you Barrells have."
Whitney was shooting eye-daggers at Prescott, who glared back at the Chicago owner from under his bushy eyebrows.
Whitney shouted for quiet, and the room gradually died down. The assembled owners wore expressions varying from outrage to amusem*nt at Prescott's little dig at the Barrell family. Cougars owner Mack Dalmer rose. "I'm the new guy hereabouts," he said with a smile, "at least until we admit our new owners," he nodded at the GWL contingent who sat in the back of the room.
Dalmer looked at Dan and said, "As I'm relatively new to this, I wanted to say that I had the honor of meeting Rufus Barrell, and a finer man I have never met. If his son here is half the man his father was, he will serve the FABL well," he paused, and Dan nodded in thanks. "However," he added, "I am also a businessman and in this business for profit as well as bringing another title to the great city of Chicago," (there were a couple of groans from other parts of the room at this), "So I echo the sentiment of Mr. Millard that Mr. Barrell keep in mind that baseball is a business and only profitability keeps the venture alive."
There were other pronouncements - but no real questions - in a similar vein from other owners. Detroit's Powell Thompson was nearly as aggressive as Millard had been; Washington's Calvin Stockdale, on the other hand, had been very nice, also complimenting Dan's father. Even the Sailors' Matilda Johnson, the lone woman to outright own an FABL club, was surprisingly tough in pounding home the idea that Dan must remember that FABL was a business, not "just a sport."
In the end, only outgoing Stars owner Al Mielke and the taciturn Saints owner Jacques Cartier neglected to speak.
Whitney put the motion to hire Daniel Barrell as President of the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues to a vote. The vote was 14-2 in favor, with the nays coming from Millard (unsurprising) and New York Gothams owner Leland Winthrop, which was somewhat surprising as Winthrop's statement had mostly revolved around encouraging Dan, assuming he became President, to help the clubs negotiate sweetheart leases for ballparks and the land around them.
The 14-2 margin was more than enough for approval. Now it was up to Dan, to accept the offer now that it was formal.
He rose, took a deep breath, and said, "I am honored that you would consider me for the role of FABL President. It is incredibly humbling and also will be a great challenge to succeed Sam Belton who has done such an outstanding job for such a long time." There were some "hear, hears" from the owners, while others frowned. Belton himself beamed.
"So I thank you for the opportunity, and I humbly accept, promising to do my best to foster the continued success and growth of our great American pastime."
The rest of the meeting passed in a whirlwind. Dan, now the heir-apparent, was permitted to stay and watch though he had no official standing until the changeover on March 1st.
The owners approved, unanimously, the sale of the St. Louis Pioneers to the partnership of John Mark of Houston and Paul Burnett of Dallas, removing the stain of Dee Rose's ownership of one of FABL's oldest clubs with "Big John" Mark to act as majority owner.
Next up was the sale of 45% of the Philadelphia Sailors to Robert "Red" Perrone of San Francisco. Millard voted against this, likely out of spite - it was a miracle in Dan's eyes that the man had voted to allow two erstwhile GWL "rebels" to purchase the Pioneers (likely a statement more about how much the rest of FABL disliked Dee Rose than anything else).
This was borne out again when the final vote: for the sale of the New York Stars to Thomas X. Bigsby was brought to the floor. Again, Millard voted against, staunchly ignoring the heated look he received from Al Mielke. Ruth Barton pointedly stared at Dan as she voted in favor, which got a shake of the head and some murmuring from Millard, who no doubt expected a "Nay" from Boston ownership.
The last item on the agenda, formerly tentative and now confirmed, was a goodbye message from Sam Belton. The old man thanked the owners for their trust in him, expressed his belief that he had always acted in the best interests of baseball, and wiped away a tear as the assembled owners - and Dan - gave him a standing ovation.
As the meeting adjourned, Dan stood and realized that in just over one week's time, he would be (theoretically) the most powerful man in baseball.
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Sam Belton makes his final remarks as FABL President, 1950
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