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Samuel
I’d missedthe last couple of months of baseball but my team, the Charlotte Stars, had made it to the divisional championship. That was a good thing for the team but a bad thing for our investment group. It meant that we would probably have to look at the numbers again. It’s one thing to buy a franchise that was mediocre. It was a totally different thing to buy a team that had gone to the playoffs. We would probably have to increase our offer.
Averie and I were preparing to fly to Charlotte for the American League Championship Series. We were playing the Texas Rangers in the best of seven games. We would also travel to Arlington for the away games. The Stars should be able to make quick work of this series, but the Rangers had given us problems in the past.
“Are you ready?” I asked after taking Averie’s luggage to the front door.
“Yes,” she said while looking around the room.
“Have I said thank you for taking the time to travel with me to these games?”
“Yes, you said thank you all night last night. I feel appreciated,” she smiled. “Besides, I can get some work done and take a couple of meetings that I’d been putting off. So, it works for me.”
“I will have some meetings as well, but I lined up a broker because I want us to look at some properties while we are in Charlotte. It would be smarter for us to invest in some land than to keep staying at the hotel when we visit. You down for that?”
“I am.”
“You are?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Because I usually have to convince you. Especially when it comes to spending money.”
“I’m marrying a boss. I understand that for the purposes of business and convenience we will have to make some moves.”
“Are you ready to take this journey with me?”
“To the moon and back.”
“To the moon and back,” I said while kissing her neck.
* * *
Upon our arrivalat the owner’s box, the other owners and their families were there. Averie dressed in the personalized jersey that I gave her before the first game we attended. I wore my jersey as well. It felt good being back in the ballpark after such a long absence.
“Samuel,” Theo, the majority owner, said as he approached me with outstretched arms. We quickly embraced before he continued. “It’s so good to see you. You look great.”
“Thank you, Theo, I feel good. Thank you for the calls, cards, and gifts. My family and I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I can’t imagine what everyone went through with that whole ordeal, but I am just glad you made it back. How is business?”
“Business is better than ever. Gained some new clients, looking into some real estate ventures.”
“I also heard that you are marrying this beautiful woman,” he said while looking at Averie.
“Yeah. Luckily, she said yes.”
“Lucky you!” he laughed. “Hey, you want a glass of cognac? We are celebrating early. I think we’ve got this one in the bag. Phillips came back from the injured reserve on fire. He has been unstoppable.”
“I told you that he would.”
“Yeah, thanks for working your magic with him and getting him to sign his contract. He’s the reason we are here today.”
“He is.”
“See it’s like I said at the meeting, we don’t have to throw a lot of money into the team, we just have to get players that work well together to form a team. A team is what wins championships.”
I didn’t agree at all. The way to win and stay winning was to provide the players and staff with facilities that would help them perform at their highest levels. The Stars were still using equipment from the late nineties while other ball clubs had state of the art facilities. Theo didn’t get into baseball because he loved the game. He saw an opportunity to make money and took it. He was cheap, lazy and knew nothing about building from the ground. His money was old money passed down from his ancestors. All my ancestors passed down was the will to survive, the drive to fight and the hopes of being better than they were. That drive made me a much better business man than him.
