Marge Schott: Most Unhinged Owner In Baseball History?
March 23, 2026
Marge Schott: Most Unhinged Owner In Baseball History?
10 comments
Yeah. She was racist.
She was a POS, but probably not to the level of some of the early 20th century owners. She was racist, but these early guys were known for underpaying players and didn’t even let black players in the league.
In the modern era, Ted Turner was pretty wild. That being said, Bill Veeck was perhaps the most “unhinged” albeit in a far more humorous way.
All that being said, there’s a definite argument for her being among the worst in the modern era.
She was unhinged (at best), and she’s likely burning in hell; however, that pullover sweatshirt is fire!
So, I’ve been researching the early 90s here recently. Lou Pinella got fired after a couple mediocre seasons from winning the World Series but allegedly he and Marge had all sorts of arguments. Marge was just incredibly cheap- for example, Lou kept asking for money for more hats for his players, as apparently players are hard on hats and they wear out relatively quickly (something I’d never even really thought of but made sense). Marge said no a few times so Lou went to her office with some of the worn out hats to prove his point about needing new ones.
Schott and Davey Johnson never got along and she complained about him “living in sin” with his GF, who he eventually married. So she fired him/they parted ways after he won a playoff series in 95 (which to this day, remains the last postseason series the team has won iirc).
There are numerous other examples of her cheapness and combustibility directly effecting the on field product- she hated scouts and hated putting money into the minor league system, so predictably the drafting effectiveness suffered.
She kept games cheap for families to attend, a positive, and did win a World Series, but I can’t help but wonder if she were a little less cheap and not so damn combative, if the team would have won more and been in better shape overall when it came time for her to sell.
there were plenty of “crazy” owners way back in the day. Marge just came along at the right time to get plenty of media coverage because of it
Fucking A, the team just left him in Oakland. Jesus Christ.
Is this the “good ole days” I saw on a bunch of the castelini posts?
Lmao. 🤣
A sport that openly embraces the racist Yawkeys, the lecherous Bill Veeck, and the anarchistic (and sometimes batshit crazy) Charlie Finley, and people pick out a female owner as “the most unhinged?” Yes, she was a terrible person, but there were many, many like her (or worse) across the history of the sport. Christ, there are known KKK members in the HOF, and there’s a good chance a former commissioner was a member of the Klan, too, but no one brings up those assholes.
Marge Schott was not a good person — but there is no way she was the most unhinged owner in a sport with so many of them. Move on.
Wasn’t there something where she let her pugs run loose on the infield pregame and shit in the infield grass, and then made a staffer clean it up?
We won though. I’d rather have an embarrassing owner that wins than an embarrassing owner that doesn’t.
10 comments
Yeah. She was racist.
She was a POS, but probably not to the level of some of the early 20th century owners. She was racist, but these early guys were known for underpaying players and didn’t even let black players in the league.
In the modern era, Ted Turner was pretty wild. That being said, Bill Veeck was perhaps the most “unhinged” albeit in a far more humorous way.
All that being said, there’s a definite argument for her being among the worst in the modern era.
She was unhinged (at best), and she’s likely burning in hell; however, that pullover sweatshirt is fire!
So, I’ve been researching the early 90s here recently. Lou Pinella got fired after a couple mediocre seasons from winning the World Series but allegedly he and Marge had all sorts of arguments. Marge was just incredibly cheap- for example, Lou kept asking for money for more hats for his players, as apparently players are hard on hats and they wear out relatively quickly (something I’d never even really thought of but made sense). Marge said no a few times so Lou went to her office with some of the worn out hats to prove his point about needing new ones.
Schott and Davey Johnson never got along and she complained about him “living in sin” with his GF, who he eventually married. So she fired him/they parted ways after he won a playoff series in 95 (which to this day, remains the last postseason series the team has won iirc).
There are numerous other examples of her cheapness and combustibility directly effecting the on field product- she hated scouts and hated putting money into the minor league system, so predictably the drafting effectiveness suffered.
She kept games cheap for families to attend, a positive, and did win a World Series, but I can’t help but wonder if she were a little less cheap and not so damn combative, if the team would have won more and been in better shape overall when it came time for her to sell.
there were plenty of “crazy” owners way back in the day. Marge just came along at the right time to get plenty of media coverage because of it
Fucking A, the team just left him in Oakland. Jesus Christ.
Is this the “good ole days” I saw on a bunch of the castelini posts?
Lmao. 🤣
A sport that openly embraces the racist Yawkeys, the lecherous Bill Veeck, and the anarchistic (and sometimes batshit crazy) Charlie Finley, and people pick out a female owner as “the most unhinged?” Yes, she was a terrible person, but there were many, many like her (or worse) across the history of the sport. Christ, there are known KKK members in the HOF, and there’s a good chance a former commissioner was a member of the Klan, too, but no one brings up those assholes.
Marge Schott was not a good person — but there is no way she was the most unhinged owner in a sport with so many of them. Move on.
Wasn’t there something where she let her pugs run loose on the infield pregame and shit in the infield grass, and then made a staffer clean it up?
We won though. I’d rather have an embarrassing owner that wins than an embarrassing owner that doesn’t.