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Schott out of Cincinnati

MLB owners expected to agree on sale of Reds

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Posted: Wednesday September 08, 1999 07:52 PM

Baseball may soon bid farewell to controversial Reds owner Marge Schott. Tom Hauck/Allsport

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Marge Schott's plan to sell the controlling share of the Cincinnati Reds that she has owned since 1984 could finally receive baseball's approval next week.

Team owners could vote next week at a meeting in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Schott's proposed sale of the Reds to a group headed by Cincinnati businessman Carl Lindner.

Schott and three of the Reds' limited partners -- Lindner, George Strike and William Reik -- reached agreement in April on the $67 million sale of the Reds, the nation's oldest professional team.

The deal is subject to baseball's approval.

An ownership committee is to review the sale proposal on Wednesday in Cooperstown before it goes to a full meeting of owners the following day, Sept. 16, The Cincinnati Post reported Wednesday.

The meeting's agenda is not complete, spokesman Rich Levin of the baseball commissioner's office in New York said Wednesday. Levin said he could not be sure whether the owners will vote on the Reds sale.

Sandra Heimann, a Cincinnati spokeswoman for Lindner, declined to comment on the report.

Owners are expected to approve the sale, after years of battling with Schott over her remarks that baseball officials consider offensive to minorities.

Schott, a Cincinnati-area auto dealer, agreed to sell all but one of her shares to the three men. Frank Kelley, her lawyer, has said Schott is hoping for a quick conclusion to the sale.

Under an agreement between baseball and Schott, John Allen has been in charge of the Reds' day-to-day operations as the team's managing executive.

Schott has twice been disciplined by major league baseball for inflammatory remarks. She was suspended by baseball's executive council for the 1993 season because of 'racially and ethnically offensive' remarks.

Schott agreed to turn over daily operation of the Reds to Allen in 1996 rather than accept another suspension for more inflammatory remarks.

 

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