Lew Wolff and the A’s isn’t the only baseball ownership news today. This afternoon MLB officially designated John S. Middleton as the control person of the Phillies.
Middleton will replace David Montgomery as the man most of us will refer to as the Phillies “owner.” Technically speaking, Middleton is just taking over as the person in charge of the club’s operation within the context of MLB’s governing structure. Montgomery remains the Chairman of the Board of the organization. Montgomery had served as the Phillies’ control person since 1997. Middleton first bought into the Phillies’ large and mostly faceless ownership group in 1994. He’s now a 48% shareholder in the club.
Like a lot of teams, it’s a pretty low-drama corporate-style ownership for the Phillies. Which is sort of sad. How much fun would it be for a city like that to have some crazy Steinbrenner or Loria figure? Missed opportunities.
