My wife continues to nurse a grudge against him, but I was disappointed when Mark Cuban was shut out the bidding for my Chicago Cubs a couple years back. The guy seems to care deeply about fielding a competitive team, so I wouldn’t have minded him taking a crack at breaking the curse of the Billy Goat.
Cuban told The New York Times yesterday that he’s done bidding on baseball. At least until he feels a little love back from MLB, some sign that they actually want him as an owner. Baseball scribe Rob Neyer (who this week made the jump from ESPN to SBNation) writes that when it comes to pursuing a team, “Cuban’s going to finish last every time, because MLB doesn’t need his money and MLB doesn’t want an owner who’s already famous and won’t keep his mouth shut.”
MLB may not need his money, but they need him. Cuban, who grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, should be handed the keys to that currently hapless franchise (which just had its 18th straight season of losing more games than it won, a record for any of the major sports). They should beg the Pirates’ current owners to sell the team to Cuban for a song.
