Kroc Saved The Show in San Diego
July 13, 2010 by Edward Kasputis
Filed under News
This week is Padres‘ week with our podcast featuring the San Diego Padres scheduled to be released on Friday, July 16th. In 1969, the National League expanded with the creation of the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres. Five years later, the struggling Padres had been sold conditionally to Washington DC area grocery-chain owner, Joseph Danzansky. Danzansky planned to move the Padres to Washington D.C. Ray Kroc read that the Padres were for sale in a Chicago newspaper.
The Padres received a telephone call informing them that Ray Kroc was interested in purchasing the team. Padre president, Buzzie Bavasi asked how many people were in Kroc’s group. The answer was one. At the 12th hour, Kroc purchased the Padres for $12 million dollars and kept the team in America’s Finest City, San Diego. To put things in perspective, one year earlier George Steinbrenner and a group of investors had purchased the New York Yankees for $8.8 million.
