Mogul Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the U.S., once had the highest bid to buy the Minnesota Twins.
As noted on startribune.com on Thursday, from the 1990 biography of former Twins owner Calvin Griffith, Trump had a $50 million bid to purchase the Twins from Griffith in 1984. Instead, the winning bid went to Carl Pohlad for roughly $36 million.
So why isn't Trump the Twins' owner now? Well, MLB owners make the decision, and it's not uncommon for that boys club to push for an owner they'd prefer instead of the highest bidder. Someone more outspoken -- like, say, Mark Cuban -- is less desirable.
Regardless, this quote was interesting from the book regarding Griffith's meeting with Trump, via Griffith's attorney Peter Dorsey (startribune.com):
"We met up in his office and he said, 'I've got something that a lot of other people have and I don't have something that a lot of people do have. I don't have a board of directors or shareholders. And I do have a helluva lot of money,'" Dorsey recalled, according to the biography.
Regardless of one's feelings on Trump, I think we could all agree that if he were a baseball owner, any league-wide discussions would be a lot more lively.
The Twins aren't even the only AL Central team that could have presently been owned by Trump in an alternate universe. His attorney sent a letter to the Cleveland Indians in 1983 alerting the franchise of his interest in purchasing the team.
The other takeaway? It's hilarious thinking about a team being sold for $36 million. Clayton Kershaw is making $33 million this season.
