American Baseball League
BOSTON (AP)-From farmer to futures trader to multimillionaire owner, a love of baseball has been a constant in John Henry’s life.
It began on the Arkansas and Illinois farms where the incoming Boston Red Sox owner grew up and the sounds of St. Louis Cardinals games filled the summer air.
Henry started out as a farmer, but found he had a gift for numbers. In the early 1970s, casinos in Las Vegas banned Henry because of his proficiency at the blackjack table.
Meanwhile, he was moving into commodities trading and building John W. Henry & Co. Inc, which manages $1.1 billion worth of investments.
After making plays for several sports teams, Henry bought the Florida Marlins for $150 million in January 1999. Last December, he put together a group that’s paying $660 million for the Boston Red Sox. Henry is expected to formally take over the Red Sox in the next month.
After Florida Marlins pitchers A.J. Burnett threw a no-hitter in San Diego, Henry joined the players out on the town for celebratory drinks. When the Marlins played at Fenway Park last year, Henry signed his name on the graffiti that lines the inside of the Green Monster in left field.
“He just loves baseball, first and foremost,” said Peter Borish, a close friend of Henry’s from the futures trading business.
In Florida, Henry built a nice-guy reputation. Fans were grateful that he rebuilt a franchise that won the World Series in 1997, then was gutted by previous owner H. Wayne Huizenga and lost 108 games the following year.
On Tuesday, owners approved the sale of the Marlins and the Montreal Expos, clearing another hurdle for Henry to assume ownership in Boston with several partners, including former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner and former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell.
“Everyone has welcomed us with open arms,” he said.
Henry, who still must sell his 1 percent share in the Yankees, says he’s nothing like New York owner George Steinbrenner. Henry plans to leave the day-to-day decisions to incoming team president Larry Lucchino, the former president of the Baltimore Orioles and Padres.
“He gave me the ability to do my job on the baseball end, just keep him informed,” said Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowkski, who ran the Marlins for Henry.
But Henry says there will be changes. He’s eager to emulate the success of the Yankees farm system.
“You have to have a strong farm system,” he said. “That’s something they have concentrated on, and the Red Sox are in need of.”
Borish says the mathematical models that Henry used to make long-term profits in futures trading show a lot about how he runs
baseball teams.
“He’s in a business where the one thing that you try to do is make time be your ally,” he said. “He’s not a fast trader, he’s not in and out…. John’s approach is getting a position and holding it for a fairly long time.”
Baseball is more than just a business for Henry. As a part-owner of the Yankees, he could have sat in the fat-cat seats during Game 4 of the 1996 World Series against Atlanta.
Henry chose the bleachers at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium instead.
“He said, ‘If I’m in hostile territory I’m going to sit out there with all the hostile fans from New York,”’ Borish said.
Their reward was an up-close view of Jim Leyritz’s Series-turning home run off Mark Wohlers. The Yankees won in extra innings and started a streak of four Series titles in five years.
Although that’s a story he’ll probably want to keep hush in Boston.
National Basketball Association
LOS ANGELES (AP)-More and more, it appears Shaquille O’Neal was right on the mark when he called Kobe Bryant the best player in the world during last year’s Western Conference finals.
And the scary thing is, Bryant is only 23. With his work ethic and hard-nosed attitude, it seems a sure bet he’ll get even better.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in the league who can stay in front of him defensively,” Washington’s Popeye Jones said after Bryant
led the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-94 victory over the Wizards on Tuesday night.
“It was him,” Jones said when asked how the Lakers rallied from a 63-43 deficit to win decisively despite the absence of O’Neal.
Washington’s Michael Jordan, who turns 39 Sunday, already had displayed his rare talents at Bryant’s age. But Jordan didn’t win the
first of his six championship rings until he was 28.
Bryant already has two NBA titles.
Bryant went only 2-of-9 from the field in scoring five points as the Wizards took a 48-35 halftime lead, and the Lakers trailed by 20 a
little over four minutes into the third quarter.
That’s when Bryant took charge. And when it was all over, he had 23 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 15 assists for his third NBA triple-double.
He went 7-of-11 from the field in the second half, and was especially brilliant at both ends of the court in the third quarter, when the Lakers scored a season-high 42 points.
“He realizes he doesn’t have to score points,” Lakers veteran Robert Horry said. “He’s distributing the ball and making other players better. That’s what makes a great player.
“He knows his teammates and what’s going on. Kobe is one of the greatest guys you want to meet, and he works hard. You’ve got to respect him for that.”
Respect was hard to come by for Bryant during the first half of last season, when O’Neal made it clear he didn’t believe Bryant was
doing what was necessary to help the Lakers win. And O’Neal wasn’t alone.
Bryant finally seemed to get it after missing nine games and most of a 10th because of a sprained ankle late in the season. He was
terrific as the Lakers went an unprecedented 15-1 in the postseason, and he hasn’t taken a step back this season.