The Lamar Hunt-Western Resources bid to buy the Royals
"skidded to an end Tuesday when the group said it was
withdrawing its offer," according to Charles Crumpley of the
K.C. STAR. The development "all but clears the path" for
Miles Prentice to buy the team. In a statement, Hunt said
that the Royals' announcement last Thursday in support of
Prentice "indicates they are now going in a different
direction, and we respect that decision." Royals Chair
David Glass said that he "was not surprised" by the Hunt-
Western withdrawal because he did not think the group
intended to raise its bid. Glass: "But it's difficult to
ask someone, anyone, to invest in a proposition that loses
money." Prentice said yesterday that Negro League great
Buck O'Neil would join his group. Prentice would not say
how much money O'Neil was investing "or even if he was
investing." The developments "set off a flurry of
speculation that the Prentice group could be joined by Hunt;
Western Resources;" or Western Resources Chair John Hayes.
But "several insiders said that was unlikely." Prentice
"hopes to get his bid approved by the Royals within a week
or so" in order to present his bid during the next meeting
of MLB's ownership committee September 16 (K.C. STAR, 8/26).
BALLPARK IMPROVEMENTS APPROVED: In K.C., Gromer Jeffers
reports that Jackson County officials on Tuesday approved an
agreement to make $11M in improvements to Kauffman Stadium,
"but they said the Royals must select a new owner in the
next week to complete the deal" (K.C. STAR, 8/26).
REAX: In K.C., columnist Joe Posnanski writes, "Hunt
has always been a class act, a true gentleman, and so it was
again" (K.C. STAR, 8/26). In K.C., columnist Jason Whitlock
praises Prentice's addition of O'Neil to his group: "Buck
O'Neil is a man of modest financial resources. His addition
to Prentice's group is symbolic. ... But sometimes we forget
the importance of symbolism. Progress is often a direct
descendant of symbolism" (K.C. STAR, 8/26).
