Frank McCourt: Why McCourt Proves His Own Stupidity with MLB Lawsuit

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Frank McCourt Sues Baseball Following Takeover of Dodgers, But Lawsuit is Really Just an Exercise in Stupidity

When Major League Baseball announced yesterday that they were seizing control of the Los Angeles Dodgers from current owner Frank McCourt thanks in large part to McCourt's inability to keep the team out of financial peril during his messy divorce, most assumed McCourt would be irked.

Naturally, the Dodgers' owner proved them right. McCourt is planning to sue Major League Baseball for taking over control of the team, showing us all just how big of an idiot he really is.

As Hardball Talk's Craig Calcaterra is quick to point out, McCourt really doesn't have a case in this matter.

"My understanding of the matter — and someone, please, tell me if I’m off base here — is that Selig can basically do anything with a team and its owner (i.e. approve his bid, kick him out, take control over his team, etc.) as long as he has the support of 3/4 of the other owners. Selig rarely does anything unless he has consensus. For him to have taken over the Dodgers means that he almost certainly has the backing of baseball’s other owners."

McCourt knew full well what he was signing on for when he took over the Dodgers. He knew what he was doing, the risk he was taking, and the consequences of failing to keep one of the league's most historic franchises out of the mud being slung around during his divorce.

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To waste the justice system's time with such a pointless suit is both wasteful and stupid. Of course, we've suspected McCourt wasn't the sharpest spoon in the drawer since it turned out that he and his legal team couldn't even create a binding legal document that prevented his soon-to-be ex-wife Jamie from taking the team from him in the event of a divorce.

We saw more of McCourt's idiocy when he bought the team using massive loans from Fox and other lenders, then continued to borrow from the team's television contracts to keep things running. Why would you own a Major League Baseball team if you couldn't afford to buy it with your own money? In what world does that make sense? He knew what he was signing on for when he bought the club, that, in the event he couldn't keep the team out of harm's way, baseball would step in to ensure nothing happened. So why the lawsuit?

McCourt doesn't seem to have much of a case here, and the more he forces the issue, the dumber he'll ultimately wind up looking. Trying to bluster and puff up in this situation just makes you look like the fool. Why not admit you did this to yourself and the team by putting them in a position to land in financial peril, and move on? That seems like the smarter (and safer) play here.

Of course, all of this could have been avoided had McCourt not left the team hanging out there in the divorce procedings, but that's another matter entirely.

In the end, the real losers are the Dodgers, as this once proud organization with it's unrivaled farm system has seen the talent pool dry up under the last two ownership groups, and now, they're the first team to be taken over by Major League Baseball while the current owner still has the team. Talk about embarassing.

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