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Local 26 in Cleveland / Local 28 in Atlanta / Diamondback Wick
For as much as he shaped the downtown Cleveland skyline and the fortunes of its baseball team, Dick Jacobs was about as reluctant a public figure as the city has ever seen.
The buttoned-up millionaire businessman, who rose from modest Akron roots as a potato peeler at a popular drive-in restaurant, guarded his privacy as passionately as he negotiated real estate deals. But privately, away from the spotlight, his tight circle of friends socialized with a man who flashed a sense of humor, was able to laugh at himself and, yes, even reveal a sensitive side.
"He was tough and he was kind and he was soft and he was a very bright man," said Dominic Visconsi early Friday morning, a few hours after the death of his former business partner. Visconsi said they had lunched together at Jacobs' Gold Coast condominium as recently as last Saturday. "We were laughing and recounting [the past]," Visconsi said. "It was one of his better days in the last few weeks."
Richard E. "Dick" Jacobs, the commercial real estate mogul and former Cleveland Indians owner who helped refurbish downtown Cleveland and turned its baseball team into a winner, died Friday after a long illness. He was 83.
"He was a hard-working person who enjoyed risk-taking and enjoyed success," said Jeff Jacobs, who followed his father into a real estate development business of his own. "His two strongest values were hard work and integrity. Anything that came about through hard work and integrity he would think was a successful endeavor."
The bricks and mortar downtown and in surrounding suburbs, the championship banners raised in the Indians' ballpark during his ownership suggest there were many successful endeavors.
Jacobs was chairman and chief executive officer of what is now called the Richard E. Jacobs Group, a firm he founded with his late brother, David, and Visconsi in 1955. A company spokesman said Jacobs made provisions for the future of his company, which has developments planned or underway in Northeast Ohio and Florida. The Jacobs Group provided few details about those plans Friday beyond confirming that the current executive team would continue.
Most visible, the Westlake-based company developed the 57-story Key Center and adjoining Marriott hotel on Public Square, and the Galleria at Erieview at East Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue, the first retail shopping mall in downtown Cleveland.
One of his closest political allies was former City Council President George Forbes, who he met over lunch in early 1980s. At the time, Jacobs wanted to bring Bob Hope's memorabilia to Cleveland, and to find other ways to honor the Cleveland-bred performer, who was a friend. Through that discussion and countless others, he and Forbes forged a respect that evolved into friendship.
"He was a man that mixed with people of all walks of life," Forbes said. "I'll never forget I was at the Lancer, [a restaurant popular with black people on the city's East Side] and up drives Dick Jacobs. I thought, 'What the hell is this man doing here?' He was socializing with his friends. And it wasn't just one occasion. I'm not kidding you."
Although Jacobs made his fortune in real estate, he went from mainly playing behind the scenes to center stage when he and his brother, David, bought the Indians from the Steve O'Neill estate in late 1986 for $40 million. David Jacobs died in 1992.
The Indians, who had fielded one of the weakest teams in baseball over the previous 30 years, were restored during the Jacobs regime, winning two American League pennants, in 1995 and 1997. They were the first Cleveland pennants since 1954.
Jacobs quickly established his low-key management style on the day he bought the club. "There is no Walter Mitty in me," he said.
Jacobs promised to run the club with sound business fundamentals. He wanted to "stay out of the way" and hire baseball experts to direct the team. He never told them what to do, only that they keep him informed, operate within the parameters of the budget and be successful.
But it wasn't as if he didn't exact his business acumen.
"He gave me my first lesson in economics," said John Hart, the former Indians vice president and general manager who flew into Cleveland on Thursday when he was told Jacobs was in poor health. "I was in his office one winter's day. I was going to ask him about some free agents. He said, 'John, come over here.' We looked out his window onto Lake Erie.
"He said, 'John, picture 30 owners walking into the lake, each wearing a hat. My hat is going to float a lot sooner than most of those guys. It doesn't mean I don't want to win. I don't mean I don't want to spend money. We just have to outsmart people.' "
Jacobs
attended most Indians games, sitting in his loge behind home plate. He seemed to
be uninterested in seeing his picture in the paper or in being interviewed. On
the rare occasions when he was interviewed, he spoke briefly, often deferring
questions to publicists or team officials who were present.
Although he viewed the purchase as a real estate investment, the ballclub also presented Jacobs an ideal outlet for his social circle.
Jacobs traditionally flew about 30 of his closest friends to spring training each season, loading them on to the private jet used by the NBA's Orlando Magic.
" 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' - that's what it was like," said long-time Cleveland lawyer and Jacobs friend Bob Rotatori.
In 2000, to thank Jacobs for his generosity, his friends threw him a dinner at Johnny's Downtown in the Warehouse District, one of his favorite restaurants. Rotatori wrote new lyrics to "Thanks for the Memories" and sang it to Jacobs.
"Thanks for the memories," he sang toward the end of the tune.
"Division Championships galore, American Conference Titles and more The World Series with Miami went seven, it was heaven How lovely it was! Thanks for the memories Of flying at 30,000 feet, drinking Grey Goose neat Making us feel elite and all the while what a treat Thank you so much!"
"He loved it so much that he had brass plaques made with the words and gave one to everybody," Rotatori said. "He loved the camaraderie of the guys."
Jacobs continued the spring training trip, even several years after he sold the team to current owner Larry Dolan.
One day when the new owner crossed paths with the former owner during camp, Dolan asked if he could help himself to the extensive spread Jacobs had laid out for his crew, joking that he had to make up for the money he just spent on the team.
"Larry," Jacobs said, "you're going to have to eat a lot of gumbo, a whole lot of gumbo."
Jacobs would routinely hang around the batting cage in Winter Haven, Fla., in his trademark casual wear -- yellow dress pants with white shoes. Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton needled the boss about his fashion sense, Jacobs would laugh at the teasing.
When the Indians clinched the division title in 1995 for their first trip to the postseason since 1954, Manny Ramirez and Julian Tavarez were pouring bottles of champagne over Jacobs' head in the locker room. These two young kids from the Dominican Republic pouring champagne over the head of one of the richest businessmen in the country was a sight to behold.
Afterward, Jacobs said, "I usually take my alcohol internally."
Jacobs' baseball success was not immediate. The Indians suffered through losing seasons in his first seven years. The team finally became a winner in 1994, when the maturing players began producing and the Indians moved to a new ballpark. Jacobs had flirted with moving the team to Florida but stayed in Cleveland after making a deal for the new stadium. The new park, Jacobs Field, bore his name from its opening in 1994 until it became Progressive Field in 2008.
The Indians were a huge success at Jacobs Field. The new facility, coupled with a winning team, produced sellout after sellout. The influx of money made the Indians one of the wealthiest teams in baseball and enabled them to compete in signing top players.
In 1993, their last year at the old Stadium, the Indians had a team payroll of $17 million. Later in the decade it had risen to more than $80 million.
"On the business side, we have a winner," Jacobs said. ""But we all want a World Series ring on our finger. We're going to get it very shortly, in my opinion."
It never happened. The Indians lost in six games to Atlanta in the 1995 World Series and in seven games to Florida in 1997.
Even after the heartbreaking World Series loss, in which NBC had already invited him and Hart down to the clubhouse to accept the trophy, Jacobs recovered from the sting quickly.
"By the time we got down there, we'd blown the lead," Hart said. "So we sit and watch the rest of the game on TV in the little cubby hole that's the manager's office. When we ended up losing, Dick popped out of his chair and said, 'John, great season. We'll get 'em next year.'
"He went out, slapped some of the players on the shoulder and off he went. I wanted to crawl out of there. We were both heartbroken, but to Dick it was all about next year."
"On the plane back he was already laughing and thinking about the opportunities for success the following year," his son Jeff Jacobs said. "He was a man of tremendous resilience."
In May 1999, with the Indians having sold out 308 games in a row, Jacobs put the Indians up for sale. "It's not a question of having to do it," he said. "It's a question of wanting to do it. It's just a logical thought process."
The Indians lost to Boston in the division playoff at the end of the season. In November, Jacobs sold the team to Dolan for a reported $325 million
"Jacobs was the best owner in Indians history," The Plain Dealer editorialized. "What he accomplished is one of the greatest stories in the history of professional sports."
Off the field, Jacobs was instrumental in creating the Chagrin Highlands business park, but his involvement evolved into a feud with longtime Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White. Cleveland owns the land where the park sits and is a partner in the development.
A portrait of Richard E.
Jacobs taken on his U.S. Army graduation from boot camp in 1943.
For seven years Jacobs and his partner, Harry E. Figgie Jr., publicly promised to build a ritzy campus for corporate headquarters, but privately, internal memos later revealed, they spent those seven years planning to include a mall bigger than Beachwood Place. In 2001, after White learned of the mall plans, he said, "The Chagrin Highlands project has been one of the greatest swindles in Cleveland's history."
While keeping the mall plans secret, the businessmen publicly talked of the office park, persuading two governors to provide more than $100 million in tax dollars to add express lanes to Interstate 271 and to build a Chagrin Highlands interchange at Harvard Road.
Jacobs tried in 2001 to change his agreement with Cleveland and put stores in Chagrin Highlands, but White blocked the move, preserving the project as a business park. Five years later, though, the push for stores at Chagrin Highlands brought a new shopping center with Value City Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond, OfficeMax and the region's first Filene's Basement discount clothing store.
In 1997, Forbes magazine reported Jacobs' net worth at $380 million. At one time, the firm controlled by Jacobs owned more than 40 shopping malls, six office buildings, 19 hotels and two office parks in 15 states. His company also held a chain of Wendy's restaurants in metropolitan New York. He began selling most of his real estate about the time he announced the sale of the Indians.
Born in Akron during the Great Depression, Jacobs' first job was at age 13, peeling potatoes at the venerable Swenson's drive-in in Akron. Jacobs graduated from Akron's Buchtel High School in 1943 and served in the Army during World War II. He received a bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1949.
Jacobs is survived by his son, Jeff Jacobs, of Cleveland and Palm Beach, Fla., and daughters Nancy Jacobs, of Minneapolis, and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer, of Chapel Hill, N.C., as well as 11 grandchildren.
Check out Cliff Lee's awesome 2008 season highlights here
Charlie
Manuel leads Phillies to the Fall Classic
10-26-08: A
delightful twist of fate has guided Charlie Manuel and the Thome-less Phillies
into the World Series to face the Tampa Bay Rays.
Back in 2003, when Golden Boy Jim Thome arrived in Philadelphia to start collecting his $90 million, the adoring Phillies gave him pretty much anything he wanted while using him as the centerpiece of the campaign to launch their new ballpark. Jimbo used his newfound (albeit temporary) clout to bring in mentor Charlie Manuel as hitting coach. Charlie would serve as his personal valet as well as keep him company while he became used to his new digs.
But Jim Phoney is
not a leader nor does he inspire anyone. He likes to jump up and down with the
guys when they win, but he's the first one down the tunnel to hide and sulk
after a heartbreaking loss. The Phillies learned the expensive way that he's the
wrong player to build a team around.
By 2005 he had become a pariah that was holding back the young phenom Ryan Howard at first base. Happy Jack and his bad back were a liability for a National League team that had a strong nucleus, so the Phillies actually paid the White Sox $20 million or so (half his remaining salary) to rid themselves of the future designated hitter. He would become just another aging player on a Chicago team that won the championship in 2005 but was declining fast.
When Philadelphia fired hotheaded manager Larry Bowa the next year, it left Charlie Manuel with an opportunity to try his down-home old-school style of managing on the Phillies.
And so the guy that was too out of touch to manage the young up and coming Indians in 2002 takes his place on baseballs biggest stage with a shot to win it all. How sweet it would be to see Charlie holding up that trophy knowing the Indians brass and Little Jimmy Thome were watching from home.
Aw shucks, what a story. Go Phills!
"Tellum
in Cleveland we won a World
Series!"
Charlie gets the ring; Jim Phoney goes a huntin' and Shapiro and Wedge go back to the drawing board
Did you hear or read about Charlie Manuel's message to Cleveland?
"Tell them in Cleveland, we just won a World Series . . . I wasn't working on trying to prove nothing. Don't take this in a cocky way, but I already knew how good I was."
Apparently the Indians didn't.
The Locker of Power
In a far, dark corner of the Indians locker room, hidden behind two pillars next to the electrical circuit box is the Locker of Power. It was where Bob Wickman, the Indians greatest closer, dressed for six years.
It is reserved for
veterans or long-tenured players. Previous occupants included Jack Morris, David
Justice and Orel Hershiser. C.C. Sabathia took it over after Wick was traded to
Atlanta in 2006.
After C.C. was traded to Milwaukee on July 7th, Casey Blake decided to move into a new neighborhood. Blake still headed for his old locker out of habit when entering the locker room, so Tony Amato, the Tribe’s clubhouse manager, jokingly posted a map on one of the pillars showing the way to Blake’s isolated new digs.
“He moves all the way to the other side of the locker room and he’s still hanging out over here,” said Kelly Shoppach, Blake’s former neighbor. “He can’t stay away from us.” “Seriously, I feel pretty honored to be here, considering all the good players that that have hung their hats here,” said Blake.
But much like the killer car in Stephen King’s “Christine,” the locker has a habit of doing away with occupants that it feels “unworthy.”
On July 26th, Casey Blake was traded to the Dodgers, and Tony Amato decided to isolate the locker with yellow police tape.“For the second time in 20 days a prominent member of the Indians that dressed there has been traded. We’re going to let it cool off for a while. You’re talking about two big moves in the same month.”
In addition to holding the Indian’s all time saves record, Bobzilla also holds the record for the most time spent in Jacobs Fields infamous “Locker of Power.”
A career defined by durability |
As the
Diamondbacks carry on, Bob Wickman and his 267 career saves quietly moved on
Monday, perhaps for good.
Wickman retired the only batter he faced on a comebacker Sunday in Colorado,
stranding a runner at third base, and said later it might be a fitting way to
retire.
“This gives me a chance to walk off on my own terms if I do walk off,” he
said.
“I got the last out that I faced and ended up being pretty successful.
Hopefully, I helped this ball club and took some pressure off some of the guys.
All I wanted was a chance to pitch, and to show to myself that I still could
pitch.”
Wickman admitted to doubts after being waived by Atlanta before signing here
Sept. 8, but he proved a valuable stretch-run addition, giving up one earned run
with a 1.35 ERA in eight appearances.
He is ineligible for the playoff roster because he was not with the D-Backs at
the Aug. 31 deadline.
“I thank Bob Melvin and the whole Diamondbacks organization for giving me an
opportunity,” Wickman said.
Wickman has three children — ages 10, 8 and 4 — and said it might be time to
save a few pitches for them.
“I’m 38. I’ve got a wonderful wife and three wonderful kids that I want to
be able to throw ‘bp’ to,” he said.
The Wickmans have taken their children to spring training every year, and the
family has spent summers in New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Atlanta, wherever
he was playing.
“It’s getting to the point right now where maybe it’s about time to get
settled and let them meet some friends that they are going to have every day.
Whatever decision it is going to be, it is going to be a good one,” he said.
“If I don’t play, I’m going to be happier than heck being with my family
every single day. If I do play, I’m going to be happy doing the thing I love
to do.”
A Farewell to Arm
Two days after the August 24th meltdown against Adam Dunn in Cincinnati, Bob Wickman was at home in Wisconsin hangin’ around the pool with the family. They all knew something wasn’t quite right. The Atlanta train wreck just wasn’t the way a 14-year MLB career should end. His reputation was mangled, and he couldn’t even finish the season he struggled so hard with starting in the first place.
The
closer needed closure.
He was unofficially retired, having been unceremoniously dumped by the imploding Braves, with every sports media writer that covered the story dragging his name through the mud.
He was called a selfish, brooding and aloof player that only cared about his own stats. He was said to be a clubhouse cancer that complained every time he was given the ball in a non-save situation. He was said to have openly bad-mouthed his teammates and actually refused to pitch in a 6-2 game against the Mets.
Bob made a few phone calls and reached out to some of the many baseball people he had known throughout his time in the Bigs, letting it be known that he was available to pitch if someone wanted him for the September stretch run. When his old friend and teammate Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks said, “Come on down, we’d love to have you,” Bob saw it as a chance to repair his slandered reputation, prove that he could still get guys out and contribute to a playoff contending team. Choosing to join a bullpen that had the #1 closer in all of baseball in Jose Valverede made the accusations against Bobby seem even more ridiculous to me. He had virtually no chance to take the ball for a save opportunity with this team.
So when I heard that Arizona picked Bob up, naturally I went directly to their schedule like any fine upstanding Wickman Warrior would do.
They’re in Pittsburgh the last week of the season! “Thank You, Lord!”
I
dashed off a quick note to Bob that the whole gang was coming down, and he
responded with tickets for everyone and plans to meet up at their hotel.
It seemed like a perfect night for baseball when we took our fantastic seats right off the first base side of the field. That all changed in a hurry when a freak storm blew in like a tornado in the 3rd inning and drenched the field before the grounds crew could even get the infield tarp unrolled. Luckily, our seats were well protected under the overhang of the upper deck, and we kicked back and laughed as everyone else ran for their lives. They showed a Styx concert recorded in August at PNC on the big screen during the delay as we talked with Pirates fans while they worked on the field.
Everything just seemed right about the trip. I’ve always been big on setting things right before moving on, and was really glad that my friend’s career wasn’t going to end in that pile of dust and ashes in Atlanta.
Bob came into the game in the fifth with a guy on second with the Snakes down 5-1, and promptly plunked his first batter in the side with his first pitch. A ground ball double play and a strikeout quickly followed as Bobby got out of his mini-jam. Just like old times.
We high-tailed it back to the Westin immediately after the game, pulled 3 tables together to set up the retirement party and waited for the Guest of Honor. Bob introduced us as his “Warrior faithful” to his teammates as they got off the bus and entered the lobby, and after a few autographs we all sat down to catch up with our favorite ballplayer. The “Guest of Honor” made sure none of us paid for a drink the rest of the evening.
Like a bunch of kids that just got the keys to the candy store, we took turns peppering the Big Guy with baseball questions. He told us the circumstances that led to his trade from the Tribe, and that he held no animosity toward anyone in Cleveland. He vigorously defended Eric Wedge and said he always felt he was the right man to lead the young Indians team to the Promised Land. He told me again, as he did in this same park a year ago, that he was concerned about Wedge taking all the heat for the Fausto Carmona closer disaster and the demise of the 2006 Indians team. Bob said that would be totally unfair to him, and felt genuinely sorry if he had added to his troubles last year.
He
told us that he had just called Mark Shapiro to congratulate him for winning the
division. They had discussed his possible return to the Tribe after the Braves
released him, but they both agreed that it would more likely disrupt the bullpen
rather than strengthen it. The media and sports blabbers would turn the
situation into a circus the first time closer Joe Borowski struggled, and they
didn’t need that fiasco heading into the playoffs.
He
said the Braves ordeal was largely overblown. He felt that because he only
signed a one-year deal with Atlanta that they were going to use him up until his
back broke or his arm fell off, whichever came first. When I pointed to Cox
using him 5 times in one week back in April and landing him on the DL as the
start of his injury problems, he nodded in agreement. He indicated that unless
you were in a select group of players on the Braves, anyone with any injuries on
that team was deemed a goldbricker that didn’t want to carry his load. We
noted for the record that a squabble that spilled over into the press at
mid-season between two of the “big-boys” over the seriousness of injuries
was quickly hushed up.
He said his daily routine, which he followed religiously since his 2004 comeback from Tommy John surgery, was misinterpreted as him being a selfish and aloof loner. He said he never once refused to take the ball in a non-save situation as was falsely reported by the Atlanta media, and that Andruw Jones seemed to have a personal axe to grind with him. His demeanor was never a problem to them last year when he saved 18 of 19 games after giving up one earned run in the final 2 months of 2006.
As the evening went on, Bob gave us the good, the bad and the ugly as we ran the gamut of major league players that he had known through the years. There was no bitterness or regret as he spoke about his career, and he refused to dwell on the negatives as he smiled and patted little Garrett on the head and greeted Dback players and coaches that came over to see what all the fun was about. We finally closed the place down at about 2 o’clock after they started flashing the lights to get us up and out.
The clubhouse-cancer jerk tag that was hung around his neck when he was railroaded out of Atlanta was nowhere to be found. That guy with the sour attitude never did exist. This was the same Bob Wickman that I’ve known for the past 7 years. My personal guess is that he just didn’t fit in on a clannish team that should have been torn down and rebuilt a couple of years ago, starting with their out of touch manager.
He caught me off guard when he turned to me and said, "Joe, I think the game has passed me by." Sadly enough, I couldn't disagree with him. Not knowing quite how to answer, I think I told him that his leaving would be baseball's loss. I always felt that Bob belonged more to my father's era of ballplayers rather than this modern group of distant millionaires. It felt like we were all catching up over beers at a family reunion.
Looking back to how sick I felt when he was released, I was relieved and grateful that he was given this second chance to repair his slandered reputation. Another chance to help a young team make it to the postseason even though he wouldn’t be there with them. His assignment here was to help spell the bullpen so they’ll be fresh for October. To prove he’ll take the ball whenever his team will give it to him, and to finish the season that he started. To finish it his way: on Bob Wickman’s terms. J. Ladd 9-28-07Click here for more final road trip photos
Cleveland fans click here for in-depth coverage of Bob's years with the Indians as well as his entire MLB career
