St. Louis Cardinals: Difference between revisions

An investment group led by [[William DeWitt Jr.]] owns the St. Louis Cardinals, having bought the team from Anheuser-Busch (AB) in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://stlcardinals.scout.com/2/824267.html |work=Scout.com |title=In defense of DeWit & Company |date=December 24, 2008 |access-date=April 27, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622033510/http://stlcardinals.scout.com/2/824267.html |archive-date=June 22, 2013 }}</ref> As with other periods of the Cardinals' transaction history, doubt loomed as to whether the purchaser would keep the team in St. Louis, due to the city's status as a "small market", which appears to handicap a club's competitiveness. Such was the case when [[Sam Breadon]] put the Cardinals up for sale in 1947: [[List of National League presidents|then-NL President]] [[Ford Frick]] proposed moving the Cardinals to [[Chicago]].<ref name="Baseball's Sign">{{cite news| url=httphttps://articleswww.chicagotribune.com/1995-/12-/26/sports/9512260211_1_dewittbaseballs-groupsign-anheuserof-buschthe-costimes-joanunder-krocnew-ownership/ |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |title=Baseball's Sign of the Times: Under New Ownership |date=December 26, 1995 |access-date=April 27, 2013}}</ref> When AB placed the Cardinals for sale in 1995, they publicly expressed intention to find a buyer who would keep the club in St. Louis.<ref name="Cards put up for sale">{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19951027&id=1ElWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6295,6351993 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |title=Anheuser-Busch Puts Cardinals Up for Sale |date=October 26, 1995 |access-date=April 27, 2013}}</ref> In March 1996, AB sold the team for $147&nbsp;million to a partnership headed by Southwest Bank's [[Drew Baur]], Hanser and DeWitt Jr.<ref name="Baseball's Sign" /> Civic Center Redevelopment, a subsidiary of AB, held the parking garages and adjacent property and also transferred them to the Baur ownership group.<ref name="Judd2002">[[#Jud02|Judd 2002]]: 91</ref> Baur's group then sold the garages to another investment group, lowering the net franchise purchase price to about $100&nbsp;million, about $10&nbsp;million less than ''[[Financial World]]'s'' value of the team at the time $110&nbsp;million.<ref name="Cards put up for sale" /><ref name="Cards owners' value">{{cite news| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2001/05/07/story2.html?page=all |work=St. Louis Business Journal |title=Cards owners worth $4 billion |date=May 6, 2001 |access-date=April 27, 2013}}</ref>