Where Is Magnanimous Smulyan When Seattle Needs Him?

Remember the Jeff Smulyan who bought the Seattle Mariners from George Argyros, that breath of fresh air, that mind and moxie that helped create day care, an old-fashioned scoreboard, comedy clips and fun at the Kingdome?

The man who more than any other was responsible for the Mariners selling two million tickets last year? The man who OK'd the off-season trade for Kevin Mitchell?

Yeah, that Jeff Smulyan.

Where is he now when we need him most?

I really believed Smulyan that day he put the Mariners up for sale, the day he said this was Seattle's chance "to own the Mariners forever."

"This," he said with proper magnanimity and meaning, "gives the community its chance to take this baseball team into its heart, own it and make it succeed."

I thought he had our best interests at heart. If he didn't have the wherewithal to own and operate the club in Seattle, he'd gladly step aside for someone who would.

I was wrong.

His claim that he will abstain from voting if and when the American League owners meet to approve the sale of the Mariners to The Baseball Club of Seattle is pure nonsense.

Objectivity by transparency?

The prospective owners - Nintendo, McCaw Cellular, and Microsoft - need an advocate in baseball, much like the one Smulyan had in Argyros when he wanted to buy the club.

Argyros went to bat for Smulyan with the owners when the offer was far less substantial and far less local than the one being offered Smulyan.

Why didn't Smulyan meet with the prospective buyers face-to-face? Could there be anything more important than meeting guys who want to pay you $100 million?

Why doesn't he help articulate the offer to baseball and the world, an offer pledged not only to keeping baseball in Seattle - the prospective owners want to do away with the escape clause in the Kingdome lease and extend the agreement past 1996 - but to guaranteeing Seattle-based, not Japanese, control?

Smulyan knows what it means to have Senator Slade Gorton, Mayor Norm Rice and King County Executive Tim Hill behind ownership. And he knows full well how nice it would be to operate the team without having to pay off a loan.

He's seen Herman Sarkowsky at work and knows of the pledges to double season-ticket sales. He knows this is a good deal for him, for Seattle, and for baseball.

But as a man of the '80s, he knows there is a better deal around the corner. Smulyan can have his cake and eat it in Tampa Bay by selling a minority interest and continuing to run the club.

Wrote Hubert Mizell, a sports columnist, in the St. Petersburg Times in December: "American League owners want Smulyan to shift his team to Tampa Bay. If asked to vote a franchise move, it'll be a landslide.

"Smulyan doesn't expect a Seattle angel. If the Tampa Bay deal becomes a reality, the man from Indianapolis absolutely wants to be majority owner. He would steadfastly oppose a 1992 lame-duck season in Seattle."

Well the angels arrived, even if most of them came via Japan.

As quickly as they arrive, Smulyan runs for cover, ducking his responsibility as a member of the ownership committee that will give first review of the sale. He has said he won't vote on the sale if there is a vote, depriving Seattle of what ought to be an automatic "yes."

Instead of announcing an approval of the offer, or even articulating a criticism of it if he has one, Smulyan said, "I have read the application, but I am not going to comment on it. I don't want to give my opinion on it or any way influence the committee. The best thing about the process is it is out of my hands."

Out of his hands? He's the one who put the team up for sale. He's the one who said this was Seattle's chance to step up and save baseball for the community.

But then who's worrying much about Seattle these days? Or saving baseball for a corner of a country that endured 14 losing seasons and three unsatisfactory ownerships?

Why hasn't Smulyan signed the cable television contract he's been offered, one guaranteeing between $3 million and $6 million for next season? What about a regular TV contract or a second radio announcer? What about a spring-training home after this season?

Does he really think there is a chance to play this season in St. Petersburg? He sure doesn't act as though there will be a season in Seattle.

Smulyan gambled that the way to Tampa Bay was the absence of an owner here. He was wrong. The offer here is strong and it is local. It is everything Smulyan challenged the community to deliver.

Now, why doesn't he stand up for it? He had his chance in Seattle. Because he failed, that doesn't mean we have to.