Parade of Ridiculousness: Vida Blue in the Bronx Zoo

“Charlie, I’m at Comiskey and just heard from Johnny about your sales. I don’t like the look of these sales at all. I’m putting everything on hold until I can decide whether or not to stop them. I want you to know that. I’ve advised the Red Sox and Yankees.”

“Commissioner, it’s none of your damn business. You can’t stop me from selling players. Guys have been selling players forever, and no commissioner has ever stopped them.”

“Commissioner, I can’t sign these guys. They don’t want to play for ol’ Charlie. They want to chase those big bucks in New York. If I sell them now, I can at least get something back. … I can sign amateurs and build the team again. … I know how to do it. You know I do. You’ve seen me do it. And you shouldn’t be thinking about getting into this. ... This free agency thing is terrible. The only way to beat it is with young players. That’s where I’ll put the money,”

"Shorn of much of its finest talent in exchange for cash, the Oakland club, which has been divisional champion for the last five years, has little chance to compete effectively in its division. Whether other players will be available to restore the club by using the cash involved is altogether speculative although Mr. Finley vigorously argues his ability to do so. … Public confidence in the integrity of club operations and in baseball would be greatly undermined should such assignments not be restrained. While I am of course aware that there have been sales of players contracts in the past, there has been no instance in my judgment which had the potential for harm to our game as do these assignments, particularly in the present unsettled circumstances of baseball’s reserve system and in the highly competitive circumstances we find in today’s sports and entertainment world."

“Kuhn sounds like the village idiot. He’s continuing a personal vendetta with me... We’re going to haul his tail into court Monday. His Highness can’t make decisions that are contrary to the law of the land.”

“A true genius is rarely appreciated in his own time. A true asshole almost always is. Major League Baseball quickly recognized that Charles O. Finley, maverick owner of the Athletics in the 1960s and 1970s, was the latter. They still haven’t a clue that he was the former, as well.”