Partners want Naimoli out

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By GARY SHELTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 25, 2001

Most of his partners would agree Vince Naimoli is the man who brought major-league baseball to Tampa Bay.

Most of them also agree he should not be allowed to keep playing with it.

Call it mutiny. Call it an attempted coup. Whatever, the minority partners of the Devil Rays want Naimoli, 62, gone as the managing general partner of the team. In their efforts, they have gone as far as to speak to other major-league owners to muster support for the upcoming dispute.

And so an unsightly season turns darker. For a team that has had its problems on the field, in the stands and at the cash register, this could be the unsightliest chapter of them all. The owner has control problems. A civil war is being fought in the owner's box. The general partners have hidden their wallets, and they have their hands on Naimoli's back, and they are pushing.

There have been other times in their history that Naimoli and his general partners (Bob Basham, Mark Bostick, Lance Ringhaver and Chris Sullivan) have been disharmonious, but it has never been this bad. No matter how the team may try to explain this away, this is not normal disagreement between businessmen. This is an unhappy partnership wishing to make a change in the face of the franchise.

Naimoli declined to comment Tuesday when reached by a team spokesman. Earlier, he had dismissed reports of disagreements.

SPORTS POLL: Should Vince Naimoli give up his control of the Devil Rays? Vote

History says the task of the general (voting) partners will be a difficult one. Other managing general partners have been challenged from time to time but rarely with success. Naimoli has always maintained his contract protects him from ouster, and given the choice, baseball usually protects its own.

For a team in need of stability, however, the timing of the feud is awful. Already it has been difficult to feel good about the Rays. Now it appears those who own the team don't even feel good about each other.

For Naimoli, the fight to keep control of the team he fought to bring to the area is the latest brushfire in a stormy tenure. He is by nature a brusque blunt man, and there is a feeling among the minority partners that he has caused more ill will than good in recent seasons. Much of the corporate community has been left cold by Naimoli, who seems to believe the community owes the team its support. He does not entice, the criticism goes. He expects.

When you factor that into the Rays' problems on the field, and their shortcomings at the gate, it adds to the frustration of his partners.

Already there is talk in the business community of a rift between the partners. There is word that when Naimoli needed a fresh infusion of cash, his partners were uninterested. They're not talking, but the buzz among some team owners is that this cold war has reached the desk of commissioner Bud Selig (baseball refused to comment when asked).

So why should you care? When millionaires battle, why not simply throw them knives and be done with it?

Because the credibility of the franchise is at stake. Because with the five-year deals on sponsorship and suites expiring next year, the financial solvency of the team could be at risk. And because it stinks.

Is this merely a clash of egos? Is this about who gets credit and who gets blame? Is this a matter of the general partners blaming Naimoli for some of the wild spending that led to so many big contracts for so many small players?

Or is this deeper? Is this a group of men who think the very survival of the Rays depends on the man who has held the ball turning loose of it? By their actions, are they suggesting that left to his devices, Naimoli will run the franchise aground?

And faced with that, does Naimoli love the Rays enough to walk away from them?

It is an uncomfortable feeling, having to pick sides between those seeking control. Would a new owner help? Sure, if he has a good fastball. Or if he could repair any of the damage to the corporate community, or if he could get a new stadium built, or if he could erase the pettiness between Tampa and St. Petersburg. There are long-range problems with the Rays. Perhaps the partners think a new leader would be better to deal with them.

When no one is speaking for the record, the rest of us will fear the worst for the future. For instance: I still don't buy the talk about baseball contraction, but if you are a commissioner and you want to eliminate a team, why not start with the one with empty seats and bickering bosses?

What we are left to wonder, then, is how this ends. Do the general partners seize the throne, or does Naimoli give it up?

The guess here is that it gets uglier as the fight seeps into the open. At the end, maybe Naimoli agrees to a different profile with the team, one less hands-on. Maybe he shows his knuckles and risks everything in a fight. We'll see.

Once, this ownership talked about a purpose. Once, it was going to put the community first and its interests second. Perhaps the ownership should remember that. And this:

When you're talking about a civil war, both sides usually end up bloody.

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