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november-23-1960

November 23, 1960

News

Prescott Sullivan of the morning Examiner reported that a “reliable source” told him Chet Soda would be out as general manager at the end of the season and that control of the team would shift to fellow owners Robert Osborne and Wayne Valley. While no members of the team's board would go on record about the move, Sullivan cited Soda's parsimony as a primary cause for dissatisfaction within a certain portion of the ownership group. He also asserted that the team would lose roughly $400,000 in its first season, or $50,000 for each of the eight men on the board.

Scotty Stirling, of the afternoon Tribune, reported that an unnamed member of the ownership group, told him that the Examiner's story was “completely false” and that the board had given Soda a vote of confidence ten days ago. He added that Soda had the support of at least five of the ownership group and that it would take a majority vote to oust from the GM spot. Stirling added that Soda had shown frustration with the job in the past and that, while he could leave the job at the end of the season, it would be voluntary and not the result of an ouster.

The Chronicle published the second half of a story by reporter Bruce Lee, documenting some of the team's foibles during the year, including a tale that team flack Gene Perry, who quit in October, was told never to mention that any of the team's players had previously played in the NFL or in Canada to avoid the idea that they were “castoffs.” The story also mentioned that there were ten team owners, and possibly eleven if tales that travel agent Frederick Sullivan had bought a piece of the team from Soda, though the other two hadn't been named either in this story or in other recent stories that made the same claim.

In another tale, head coach Eddie Erdelatz once paid for an entire team meal on the road because the team's original venue provided such a poor repast. The story ended by pointing out that, despite all the hardships and frustrations, the team was performing well above preseason expectations with the lion's share of the credit going to Erdelatz and his staff.

The city of San Francisco granted permission to the team to play their final three home games of the 1960 season in Candlestick Park, as well as any playoff games they might host, provided they do the conversion to a football configuration and back to baseball afterward themselves.


november-23-1960.txt · Last modified: 2024/08/20 04:25 by 127.0.0.1