Ted Turner was wild. He was known to spend lavishly, act crazy, and basically do whatever he wanted. Why? Because he could. To many, he was an asshole. To more still, he was a genius. Well, he was also the owner of the Atlanta Braves and in the late 70s, all of these personality traits collided.
Friday, September 4 at 6:40p – Cristopher Sanchez v Chris Sale (L)
Citizen’s Bank Park – Philadelphia, PA
Saturday, September 5 at 6:05p – Zack Wheeler v Martin Perez (L)
Sunday, September 6 at 1:10p – Aaron Nola v Tyler Mahle (R)
Monday, September 7 at 1:05p – Jesus Luzardo v Bryce Elder (R)
The Braves of the 70s were not very good. However, they did have one big advantage over most other teams: Free Agency. That new fangled player acquisition system was perfectly set up for an owner like Ted Turner. Not only did he have the money, but he wasn’t preconditioned NOT to spend it like the rest of the owners in the league.
After buying the team in 1976, he vowed to turn the Braves around. Despite having Phil Niekro in his knuckleball throwing prime (late 30s is prime for a knuckleballer), the Braves position player stash was miserable, particularly their outfield. One of the top players on the market was future Phillie Gary Matthews. “Sarge” had just finished up a .279 hitting, 20 HR season for the Giants. Those aren’t great numbers, but they were better than what the Braves were throwing out there every day.
Even in the beginning of the free agent years, you still couldn’t tamper with free agents. Their current team had exclusive negotiating rights to the player until November 1. That didn’t stop the Braves from telling Matthews’ agent that season that Turner would outbid the Giants for Matthews no matter what. You can’t do that. The Braves were fined $10k.
At the World Series that year, a drunk Turner found the owner for the Giants and started making fun of him. In front of several reporters, Turner loudly said that he would woo Matthews with celebrities in Atlanta and pay him double whatever the Giants offered. The press ran with it.
Of course, Matthews saw the reports and did not re-sign with San Francisco. Instead, he signed a 5 year contract with the Atlanta Braves. The Giants formally accused Turner of tampering and he was set to have a meeting about the accusations with commissioner Bowie Kuhn who hated him. The contract would not be finalized without Kuhn’s approval. Turner was in serious trouble for flouting the rules.
As I said earlier, Turner was a pretty smart guy. He had a problem though, Braves fans loved him. Even though the team was bad, the new owner looked like he legitimately cared about the team. Wait, why was this bad? Well, because as much as he liked being the owner of the Atlanta Braves, he also REALLY liked sailing. He liked sailing so much that he planned to compete in the 1977 America’s Cup (he competed in 1974 as well). The competition would take place in September of 1977 but it would take months for Turner to prepare for, right in the middle of baseball season. He couldn’t do both and he didn’t want to alienate himself from his new baseball fans. What to do?
Turner went to the MLB Winter Meetings that September and started acting like a lunatic. He was barking like a dog at reporters and screaming. He was to meet with the Commissioner the next morning. Turner continued with the crazy act all through the meeting, bemoaning his plight that he would rather be suspended than to lose Gary Matthews. “Suspend me for a year if you must” is what he apparently said to Kuhn all while crying, yelling, and running about the hotel suite.
Kuhn was convinced. He hated Turner and wanted nothing more than to be rid of him, even if just for a year. He took the suggestion without realizing it was bait and suspended Turner for a year. Gary Matthews was allowed to sign with the Braves. Turner and his ship the Courageous won the 1977 America’s Cup. No one in Braves country was the wiser that their heroic and fearless owner had better things to do that year. The Braves went 61-101.
Source: Lords of the Realm by John Halyer
Photo: Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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