The salesman buys the team
Ruly Carpenter, left, and Bill Giles 42 years ago today (AP photo)
Back in 1981, Bill Giles is best known in Philadelphia as the marketing genius who brings to life the Phillie Phanatic, as well as lining up promotions like Karl Wallenda walking on a high wire above Veterans Stadium and, well, regrettably, Kiteman crashing on takeoff on Opening Night.
The city’s most celebrated pitchman then puts together a group that buys the Phillies 42 years ago today from Ruly Carpenter for $30 million.
The Great Wallenda …
The sale ends the Carpenter family’s ownership of the team since the early 1940s.
Motivating the sale is Ruly Carpenter’s increasing frustration over the fairly new reality of free agency that leads to serviceable-but-hardly-spectacular players like outfielder Claudell Washington receiving outlandish – at least for the times – contracts from spendthrift owners like Atlanta’s Ted Turner, who in November 1980 gives Washington a five-year contract worth $3.5 million.
Really small money in today’s game, but really big money back then, considering in his first season with the Braves in 1981 the remarkably average Washington earns nearly four times more than the average major leaguer.
“It has become apparent to me that some deeply ingrained philosophical differences exist between the Carpenter family and some of the other owners as to how the baseball business should be conducted,” Carpenter says before the sale.
… the not-so-great Kiteman
“What we’re really talking about is the dramatic escalation of salaries … enough is enough'“ Carpenter says. “I just don’t think we can continue to operate on this basis.”
Giles and his group certainly are willing to do just that and give Carpenter $30 million for the team that has been in his family since 1943.
The $30 purchase price is just $2 million less than what the Yankees pay 30 years later for one season of Alex Rodriguez playing third base for them in 2011.
The Phillies today reportedly are worth more than $2.6 billion, quite the jump from the $400,000 Carpenter’s father, Bob, paid for the franchise in 1943.
As for Giles, his group of investors reportedly gives him a 10-percent share of the team for only $50,000, which coincidentally is Giles’ net worth at the time.
The ownership group also gives Giles the task of running the team, a stewardship that often becomes a controversial one over the years as the Phillies reach the World Series in 1983 before stumbling into mediocrity for the rest of the decade and then returning to the World Series in 1993 with more mediocrity to follow.
During that time, Giles acquires enough shares of the team to become the Phillies’ single largest shareholder, which at times makes him even more of a target for the criticism from the team’s rabid fanbase.
By 1997, a then 63-year-old Giles slowly begins selling off his shares, a personal divestment that lasts for more than 15 years.
In between, he becomes a driving force for the Phillies in their pursuit of building a new stadium in South Philly, a stadium that since opening in 2004 has been a financial boon for the franchise.
“I’ve often said that if Ted Turner hadn’t signed Claudell Washington to that contract, the Carpenters wouldn’t have sold,” Giles later tells writer Eric Fisher, “and my life from then on would have been rather different.”
Bill Giles with manager Paul Owens in 1983