RealGM

I just thought this was a big enough "GM" story to mention here.

I don't have any ties with the Wolves front office, but I am a tertiary acquaintance of Carl Pohlad. While he's constantly ripped by local fans, he was a tremendously decent individual. The Twins were lucky that he was willing to save baseball in Minnesota. I think that Mr. Pohlad may have influenced my views on the Wolves, and when Glen Taylor makes a deal that saves him $1 mil, I don't have any problem with it. If anything, Pohlad, especially right now, reminds us that owners are actual human beings.

WHAT!?!?!? I didn't know he was ill. I mean I knew he had a a few gray hairs and was getting up there in years, but this is a bit unexpected for me.

Thats sad

This is such sad news. My prayers go out to the Pohlad family.

Wow. RIP Mr. Polhad.

Apparently he has/had an office in my building and we'd see him here once a week or something. I just started in July for this company, so I never saw him, but I guess he was seen quite frequently up until the last few months.

Wow, I didn't realize he was so old.

Sad news

Sad news indeed, although he had a great run - a peaceful end at 93 surrounded by family is alright. I have family who knew/know the Pohlads and they speak very highly of all of them.

RIP Carl Pohlad. I didn't agree with the way he ran the Twins organization for the most part, but I respect him for his service in WWII and for being the owner of 2 championship teams.

I have family who knew/know the Pohlads and they speak very highly of all of them

While it is sad when anybody dies I will simply bite my lip on that one.

yojimbo wrote:Sad news indeed, although he had a great run - a peaceful end at 93 surrounded by family is alright. I have family who knew/know the Pohlads and they speak very highly of all of them.

I agree. I've briefly met two sons and a daughter, and their spouses, and I've been impressed as well. Despite the huge amount of money they have, they all work hard and are very down-to-earth people, so I think that's a great, lasting tribute to the Carl. Carl didn't grow up with money, and it seemed to me that he didn't bring up spoiled kids, like first generation wealth often seems to do.

Carl has had some severe physical problems for a while, and when he would show up for events, he'd have a young man under one arm helping him walk, but his mind and wit were as sharp as ever. His wife Eloise died a few years back, and that seemed to hit him very hard.

I remember about 15 years ago before I met the guy, I was driving somewhere at 7 in the morning, and was listening to Tom Bernard. He and his crew back then were complaining about Carl not putting more of his money into signing some big name free agent for a pennant run, and one of them gets the idea to give Carl a call and rag on him. Now, I'm thinking, what billionaire out there is going to even take that phone call, but Carl went on the air, unscripted as he was getting ready for work. He was completely candid, said what he thought, and his love of baseball just seeped through, but he pointed out he's a businessman too. Anyway, I just thought that was a terrific act of character. Nobody would have said a word if he dodged that phone call, but he took it, he didn't put himself up to be better than these clowns who were telling him how to spend his money, and he laid out his position with a remarkable knowledge for the baseball stats. I was impressed ever since.

^
I am aware from previous conversation that you have/had some type of (working?) relationship there.

While there is nothing wrong with speaking of the positive aspects of a recently deceased persons character, I have a hard time listening to people talk about him (or any of the Pohlads) as overall good people. I'm not sure if that is what you are implying or not but again, I will bite my lip.

GopherIt! wrote:^
I am aware from previous conversation that you have/had some type of (working?) relationship there.

While there is nothing wrong with speaking of the positive aspects of a recently deceased persons character, I have a hard time listening to people talk about him (or any of the Pohlads) as overall good people. I'm not sure if that is what you are implying or not but again, I will bite my lip.

I'm not entirely sure where your dislike for him comes from, and believe me, his penny pinching frustrated me as a fan, but I think in death you have to celebrate the good things about a person. Even your dear Aunt Mildred who wore all black, had 100's of cats, and stole candy from children.

I don't think he acted too different than many owners have in regards to a stadium, and although the contraction issue was garbage, I think he was at a point where he came to terms with never getting a new stadium and it was just going to be a losing venture. He was making a business decision. I think the Pohlads did a pretty good job of mixing business and baseball together. They didn't over-extend the budget, but they weren't cheap only out to make a buck. He was content with breaking even, or losing some money to put a competitive team on the field. He just didn't want to drop millions, and thus lose millions upon millions on what was obviously not his main interest. He was a smart business man.

Now the hope should be with a new stadium and new direction from the front office and owner, the Twins will be able to bring in good free agents and re-sign their own guys.

^

I wasn't thinking about something as trivial as sports related stuff. Again, I won't talk about it right now out of respect for him and his family. Highlighting the best of a recently deceased person's life is obviously part of our culture.

GopherIt! wrote:^

I wasn't thinking about something as trivial as sports related stuff. Again, I won't talk about it right now out of respect for him and his family. Highlighting the best of a recently deceased person's life is obviously part of our culture.

I was hoping not. For all I know there could be something deeper and you knew him on a more personal level. I'm assuming there's something big as you're normally pretty level headed and not a d-bag.