But they hope by next Opening Day their future is more stable, from the foundation of a new ballpark to the top of the management structure.
The Enquirer has learned Major League Baseball plans to resolve the Marge Schott-General Motors case by its June meeting. The owners will consider the automaker's allegations Schott used names of seven Reds employees to help falsify 57 car sales from the Montgomery Chevrolet-GEO dealership she owned.
The decision, sources say, could range from doing nothing to adding another year or two to her suspension from day-to-day control of the Reds. That suspension is scheduled to end with the last out of the 1998 World Series.
Another suspension would mean extending the contract of Managing Executive John Allen, whose job is supposed to end with the World Series if Schott returns.
Leave it to the limping Reds, who come into Opening Day with an injured Barry Larkin and a payroll cut to the bone, to have not one, but two potential lame ducks in the same year in Allen and Schott.
Baseball owners might also craft a resolution in which Schott regains control if she agrees to sell the team. Schott's general partner role expires with the Reds limited partnership on Dec. 31, 2000.
Sources indicate owners have held off ruling on Schott for the past 15 months because of persistent rumors she plans to sell the club. GM's allegations first surfaced in The Enquirer Dec. 24, 1996, but word is the owners also haven't ruled yet because they haven't had to since she was already suspended for insensitive remarks.
GM dropped the case when Schott sold the dealership. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters didn't pursue criminal charges, and there have been no charges filed in federal court even though alleged fraudulent documents were mailed.
In December, 1996, a Redsemployee said Schott returned nearly $20,000 in incentives she received for reaching quotas with the false sales, and that it wasn't fraud but just another round in an ongoing battle with GM.
Yet MLB is apparently still looking at the Fred Saigh-fraud precedent from 1953, in which the owner of the Cardinals sold the team after pleading no contest to tax evasion.
The Enquirer has also learned several Reds employees fear Schott plans to undo much of what Allen has built since he took over day-to-day operations in June 1996, including firing his hires.
''She is capable of taking out this franchise if they let her back,'' said a Reds insider.
On the verge of what could be his last Opening Day running the Reds, Allen won't speak to such employee concerns or his future. He denies the franchise's long-term health is harmed by unpredictability.
''We have goals and we're following through on a plan,'' Allen said. ''You can't say we don't have a road map. I think what we're doing is going to help us over the long haul. We have a direction. We're not drifting.''
Allen has beefed up the player personnel and scouting departments as the Reds have shifted to the Cleveland philosophy of the early '90s: Develop cheap, young talent.
By trimming the payroll to around $24 million this year from close to $37 million in 1997, Allen believes the club has regained some fiscal stability and hopes this ends the penny-pinching. National League President Leonard S. Coleman Jr. refuses to speculate on the futures of Allen and Schott.
''From what John has done, he should always have a good and promising career in baseball,'' Coleman said. ''He's shown skill and effort and the league is appreciative. I've got the highest confidence in both John and (General Manager) Jim Bowden.''
Allen has added staff to the marketing, sales and public relations departments of a front office that was the laughingstock of the game five years ago when it barely had 40 employees. According to this year's media guide, there are 51 people working off the field, excluding trainers and doctors. There are also four part-timers listed.
Allen has again made the Reds a presence in Latin American scouting and diversified the front office by putting minorities in such key positions as controller, assistant general manager, director of player development and director of scouting.
He also ended the stadium stalemate when he offered Hamilton County a major concession in negotiations, giving up the demand of $30 million in guaranteed revenue in an effort to get a deal for a new park.
Allen has been criticized for getting pushed around by the county, culminating in an Oct. 7, 1997, news conference in which Allen came up with an empty threat to move the team out of Hamilton County if he couldn't get a stadium deal.
But his supporters point out he didn't fold under the county's intense public lobbying for a Cinergy Field transformation and held out for a new park, and he played the role of deal-maker last month by pulling the $30 million off the table.
Allen has accomplished so much despite not knowing where he'll be working on Nov. 1. He won't say if he'll stay to work for Schott in a different capacity, continuing a relationship everyone knows is icy.
''There haven't been any warm and fuzzy moments,'' Allen said.
Allen says he's got nothing lined up for after the World Series, preferring to focus on this commitment. He won't comment when asked about inquiries from other teams, but he wants to stay in baseball. He hasn't shied from making connections with people in the game. For instance, he once attended a Braves game as the guest of club president Stan Kasten and talked stadium issues.
''This is not about John Allen,'' he said. ''It's about the organization, and I want this organization to do well if I do leave. Sure, I think about what might happen sometimes, but not often. I'm trying to get through every day.''
When it comes to the Reds, so is Major League Baseball. Complicating matters is the Reds' convoluted limited partnership agreement that supposedly expires Dec. 31, 2000.
Insiders say Major League Baseball is not going to allow the Reds to be sold under the current partnership agreement because it has fewer than three years remaining. Plus, MLB is uncomfortable with a minority owner like Schott, who owns 6.5 shares of 15, calling all the shots.
At least one limited partner, Carl Kroch, believes the expiration date ends Schott's reign. He thinks the partnership will end the last day of 2000 and that it must be reformed into another structure, a situation in which Schott doesn't have enough votes from the limiteds to gain control.
But the document is vague and there's the possibility Schott, who will be 72 then, could sue to keep control by arguing the partnership doesn't expire. The agreement has been amended several times and it's possible the expiration clause has been changed.
After reviewing what's believed to be a current copy of the clause, George Vincent, a partnership lawyer at the Cincinnati firm of Dinsmore & Shohl, says ''it could easily be litigated. It's vague and there is strange language.''
Vincent also thinks the strongest argument is that the partnership does expire, because limited partnerships typically have ''a finite life'' and the fact that the document refers to an expiration date assumes there is an end to the agreement.
Allen is keeping his focus on the field. In fact, he thinks the less he knows about the other stuff, the better.
Schott is prohibited from making decisions and talking to the media. She can be in the Findlay Market Parade, she can go on the field and kiss dignitaries and can sit in her blue seat. So she'll put her own unique stamp on Opening Day as the Reds' Pied Piper.
But Allen's legacy as a fan-friendly executive will be be evident Tuesday at a spot on the southwest corner of the plaza dubbed ''Crosley Landing.'' Fans can mingle and munch food while listening to music from some bands. Nothing fancy. But a step.
''What's my legacy?'' asked Allen, repeating the question. ''I really haven't had time to think about it all. Is this my last Opening Day? Haven't really thought about that.
''As a fan growing up in Kansas, I always heard about Opening Day in Cincinnati. How special it was and it is. A holiday atmosphere. I'm just honored to be a part of it.''
Related stories
GM SAYS SCHOTT FAKED SALES Dec. 24, 1996
BASEBALL TO EXAMINE GM ALLEGATIONS Jan. 2, 1997
REDS BOOKS ACCURATE, ALLEN SAYS Jan. 3, 1997
SEVEN REDS EMPLOYEES ON SCHOTT BUYERS LIST Jan. 4, 1997
GM'S LIST OF 57 ALLEGEDLY FAKED SALES Jan. 4, 1997
Today's report
Reds hitting hits bottom
Pirates 3, Reds 1
Comparing stadium options
Borgman's 'Stadium Sites We Should Have Considered"
SPRING TRAINING STORIES
REDS PAGE
