Loria the Destroyer

Loria first infected Major League Baseball in 1999, when he purchased a minority share of the erstwhile Montreal Expos. However, over the years, Loria proved to be more saboteur than steward. On his watch, the Expos failed to negotiate a television contract or an English-language radio contract, allowed a lease on land set aside for a new ballpark to expire, nixed the long-standing practice of giving free tickets to sponsors, exploited a clause with his partners that allowed him to increase his ownership stake and fired the boundlessly adored Felipe Alou as manager. And then Loria had the gall to wring his hands over why no one would come to see the team play. It all smacked of orchestration, to say the least.

So with the viability of baseball in Montreal now called into question, Loria sold the team to MLB. In a "stunning" coincidence, this was just about the time that commissioner Bud Selig was angling to contract the Expos and Minnesota Twins. You'd think that a ham-fisted owner like Loria, who ran baseball to seed in a city that once was feverish for its hometown nine, would be expelled from the ranks of ownership. However, that's not what happened. MLB promptly approved Loria's bid to purchase the Florida Marlins and even floated him a $38-million, interest-free (!) loan to do so. There was certainly the whiff of quid pro quo.

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