This morning's newspaper reports the death of Carl Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins.  He was 93.  A telling detail:  the main article on Pohlad in this morning's Chicago Tribune was located not in the sports section, but rather in the business pages.

   Pohlad's purchase of the team from Cal Griffith in 1984 was greeted with joy by Twins fans.  I attended the game that summer when they held a ceremonial signing of the purchase agreement at homeplate.  The entire crowd gave Pohlad a riotous standing ovation, because his acquisition of the franchise meant the end to years of worries that the team might move away to Florida.  This was followed by the hiring of Tom Kelly as manager and World Series wins in 1987 and 1991.  What wasn't to like?

   Pohlad's popularity waned after that.  I could almost forgive his parsimonious ways as an owner, his refusal to spend money to sign star players, and his strong-arm tactics to force the state to build him a new ballpark.  But his active participation a decade or so ago in a scheme to contract the major leagues by eliminating two teams, and his offering up the Twins as one of the sacrificial victims:   that crossed a line.  If the scheme had been enacted, the sacrifice would have been entirely on the fans' part; Pohlad made sure he would have been remunerated quite generously by the other owners.

    We're not supposed to speak ill of the dead.  So I'll try real hard to concentrate on the 1980s when I think of Pohlad.  I'll try to link his face in my memory to Kirby Puckett, Tom Kelly, Kent Hrbek.  But when I imagine Pohlad's face, somehow the image of Bud Selig (I prefer to call him Bug Salad) keeps coming to mind, and then a shudder runs up and down my spine.

   I just need to remember:  pitchers and catchers report in just a few weeks.