Astros Owner Jim Crane was on the west coast through the worst of Hurricane Harvey due to a previously scheduled business trip. He was due to arrive back in Houston Thursday night in time for the club’s own return to Minute Maid Park this weekend. While away, Crane was in constant contact with MLB and club officials as the Astros moved their three-game home series against the Rangers to Tropicana Field. The team will play a doubleheader against the Mets on Saturday and play Sunday's game as scheduled. Crane also has overseen a wide variety of club responses to the disaster, including leading a $4M donation from the Astros, its ownership and charitable foundation to flood relief, and the use by the Red Cross of a large warehouse he controls. The games this weekend against the Mets will also include a wide array of additional fundraising efforts and ticket giveaways to local Houston first responders and evacuees. An abridged account of Crane’s recollections of the hurricane experience:
Q: What have been your impressions of the week?
Crane: We’ve got a mess on our hands. Just in our own small organization, we’ve got 10 or 12 people flooded out of their houses. It’s been tough not only on our own organization, but the entire city. I’ve been here 35 years, and this is obviously as bad as I’ve ever seen it.
Q: What was the decision process with the Rangers and MLB to play this week’s games in Florida and then return to Houston for this weekend?
Crane: For a while, we didn’t know what we were going to do, and we couldn’t play [in Houston] because the roads were blocked. For these first games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the stadium was playable but we couldn’t get people in and out to work the stadium and so forth. But as things started to open up, our players and staff that were on the road were really concerned because they had a lot of people stuck in town, and they were antsy to get home. So the best thing we could do was to play the day game [Thursday], and then get back home and give them a day to regroup. The Rays have been great in opening up their place, and MLB has been great in donating money. We offered to play in Dallas, and said we’d like to switch the series [with one scheduled between the two teams at Globe Life Park in late September]. [The Rangers] wouldn’t do that, so we moved down to Tampa.
Q: The Rangers have received some criticism for allegedly being obstinate in the face of the extensive human suffering happening in Houston. Is that criticism fair?
Crane: I’ll give you the facts. You can report them however you want. We offered to play there [in Arlington] if they would switch their series with us. And there would be virtually no financial damage because a lot of this would be covered by insurance. They said we could play there, but they didn’t want to play back at our place because they thought that gave them a disadvantage at the end of the season. So they didn’t want to play there, and we felt fundamentally, from a competitive standpoint, that wasn’t a good option for the rest of the guys in the league chasing the Wild Card, and for our guys. So the commissioner moved the games to Tampa. But they wouldn’t [switch the series]. [Rangers President of baseball Operations & GM] Jon Daniels came out and made a statement to that regard. We’ve laid back, didn’t say anything, took the high road.
Q: Does this change your relationship with the Rangers long term?
Crane: It is what it is. I’ve told anybody that if the situation was reversed, I would have [switched the series]. I would have given them a break. We’re just playing baseball here, folks. It’s just three baseball games, not a life and death situation. You can’t even put them in the same perspective. We’re just trying to do what’s best for the team and what’s best for the city. I’m not here to burn the Rangers. You’ve got the facts. They’ve caught the heat. Do they deserve the heat? I think you know where my opinion would go. But that plays itself out. We had a conversation with them. We said we don’t think this is the best way to handle it. You want to handle it like that? Deal with it.
Q: Where do you see the role of the Astros in helping rebuild Houston?
Crane: We’re helping where we can help and giving back as much as we can. We’re really trying to give back and we want to use this as a charge to galvanize the city and give them hope. I’m in the logistics business, and a lot of times people want to do something positive, but you need to put the products and goods being given away in the right spots and get them distributed properly. And sometimes you can get inundated with people wanting to be generous and help. And what I’ve assessed so far is the best thing is for people to give money and we’ll get it to where it needs to go and buy what we need to buy. We’ve even got employees overseas who want to ship stuff in to give away, and it’s really a logistics difficulty doing all of that even though their heart is in the right place. With money, it’s easier to work with that, and we can pinpoint our attack.
Q: What are your expectations for the weekend and being back at Minute Maid Park?
Crane: There’s been a lot of devastation and hardship, and baseball can be a way to help pull the city back together. The mayor [Sylvester Turner] wanted the games played because he wanted people to know we’re back up and we’re going to persevere through this. The faster we get moving and the more we get back to normal, the better off everybody’s going to be.
