Sunday, September 12, 1999
Buying Reds matter of dollars and sentiments
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Carl Lindner, George Strike and Bill Reik -- the three men who will soon run the Reds -- are all successful millionaire businessmen. Mr. Lindner even ranks among the nation's richest individuals, once topping as high as fourth on U.S. News and World Report's 1988 list with family holdings of $2.3 billion. Forbes magazine recently placed his net worth at $830 million.
Why, then, would they be interested in owning a financially struggling baseball team whose ability to compete on the field has been crippled in recent years by payroll reduction?
The answer is threefold: They see a way to make the Reds financially successful, they feel a sense of civic duty to Cincinnati to buy the team from Marge Schott and they love baseball.
Mr. Lindner's main motivation appears to be his love for Cincinnati and its institutions, and the desire for those to prosper.
''I think he really wanted to get the Reds in top-notch shape so we could have a team we could be proud of, rather than having a team that's so discouraging,'' said Sidney Peerless, a Cincinnati doctor who knows Mr. Lindner.
Mr. Lindner's group stepped up to match the offer of Cleveland attorney Larry Dolan and, as limited partners, had first rights. Friends say more than anything, Mr. Lindner didn't want to see the team fall into out-of-town hands.
Cincinnati restaurauteur Jeff Ruby, a friend of both Mr. Lindner and Mr. Strike, said he has been trying to convince Mr. Lindner to buy the Reds for years, but the press-shy Mr. Lindner didn't want the extra publicity that comes with the highest-profile job in town. Even a month before the sale became public, Mr. Ruby said, Mr. Lindner still said he had no interest in becoming majority owner.
But something changed Mr. Lindner's mind, Mr. Ruby believes.
''I think the bottom line is, he wanted to rescue this team in terms of the ongoing saga,'' Mr. Ruby said. ''He's very proud of Cincinnati. .(infinity).(infinity). He was aware the Reds were compromising the pride he has in this city. I think if he wasn't already a partner, he might have done it anyway.''
Mr. Ruby also believes one of Mr. Lindner's underlying motives is that having turned 80 in April, the straight-laced, all-business tycoon wants to have more fun. Mr. Ruby said Mr. Lindner's wife, Edyth, and another friend close to Mr. Lindner both confirmed his suspicion. Terry Jacobs, a former Lindner lieutenant at Great American Insurance, also agreed.
''Just from seeing him (at his 80th birthday party, for which Mr. Ruby played host), I think he's starting to lighten up,'' Mr. Ruby said. ''He's still a man of respect and a man of substance and a man of discipline, but I think he wants to have some fun in the next 80 years.''
Mr. Strike, a 68-year-old Salt Lake City native, is the chairman of Cincinnati-based American Laundry Machinery. He bought his way into the Reds in 1981, the same year as Mr. Lindner.
Friends say he has developed a love for both the city of Cincinnati and the team, evidenced by his involvement in varied community projects (he served as chairman of the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees from 1997-98, and is actively involved with UC and Health Alliance, among others).
''He has a sense of purpose and mission and is very much interested in the community,'' said former Enquirer publisher Bill Keating, a Strike friend for 20 years. ''And I would think the traditions of baseball and the Reds are very important to him. When he develops a relationship with an institution, he supports it fully. That's been his experience with the Reds. He's very fond of the whole operation.''
Mr. Strike has long been a baseball fan. When asked about his business philosophy a year after becoming president of American Laundry in 1962, the then-33-year-old Mr. Strike quoted Lefty Gomez's philosophy on pitching excellence: ''Good luck and a fast outfield.''
''All along, I always felt he would be more apt (than Mr. Lindner) to (buy the Reds),'' Mr. Ruby said. ''That would be more his style, to want to get into something like that. I think he may have nudged Carl a little.''
Mr. Reik, a 60-year-old Fort Thomas, Ky., native and Wall Street money manager who lives in New York, came aboard in 1985 after trying to buy into the club for seven years. When he's in Cincinnati, he often can be spotted in the press box dining room. When the Reds are in New York, he sometimes rides the team bus to Shea Stadium.
Of the three, Mr. Reik -- who has been working toward controlling the club for 21 years -- is the most passionate baseball fan and most knowledgeable about the Reds, even calling reporters to find out the inside scoop or ask for opinions of the team. In the mid-1990s, he began calling WLW-AM, the Reds' flagship radio station, and asked to be patched in to the audio feed of Reds' games over long-distance.
Mr. Reik, in fact, tried to buy the Reds from the Williams brothers in 1984, but Mrs. Schott, as a limited partner, had first rights to match. In 1985, he purchased one share from Mrs. Schott for $1.6 million.
A year later, he told the Enquirer that gaining control of the Reds ''is a long-term goal of mine.'' Comments such as those have fueled speculation he could end up as the team's point man.
''I grew up hanging around Crosley Field,'' Mr. Reik told the Enquirer in 1986. ''That $1.6 million was my down payment for all those years. When you talk about the Cincinnati Reds, you talk about a community's psyche. It's not a business.''
''He's more interested in the Reds than anything else in the world,'' said Jerry Ruyan, a Reik associate.
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