More loan troubles in baseball

NEW YORK - A second baseball owner admits one of his companies accepted a loan from a business controlled by Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris said Friday that baseball commissioner Bud Selig gave advance approval for the loan to McMorris' Timnath Farms Inc. Earlier this week, Selig admitted he arranged for his Milwaukee Brewers to take a loan from a Pohlad company in 1995.

Baseball has a rule preventing teams and officials from ``directly or indirectly'' lending money to other teams and their officials.

``If we've got an arcane rule in there, then we ought to clean it up with all the mergers and acquisitions that have gone on,'' McMorris said after the loan was revealed Friday by The Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

Owners voted Nov. 6 to eliminate two teams, and Minnesota and Montreal are the likely targets. Pohlad could get more in a contraction payment than a sale of the team, and has not said whether he will deal with Donald Watkins, an Alabama businessman who wants to buy the Twins.

The contraction plan prompted criticism from some in Congress, leading to squabbling between Selig and Rep. John Conyers Jr., the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Conyers, citing the close relationship between Selig and Pohlad, has called for Selig's resignation and the end of baseball's antitrust exemption.

``This is a little bit like Chrysler and Ford meeting to conspire to eliminate General Motors,'' Conyers said at a news conference in Detroit. ``Nobody would tolerate it for a moment.''

Conyers is to meet with one of Selig's lawyers next week in New York and wants another hearing.

``I had no intentions of calling another one, but Selig was not forthcoming,'' Conyers said. ``He's a great witness, he's very verbose, articulate. He knows a lot, maybe not as much as he thinks he knows, but he's a great witness. He's got lots of answers for everybody, not always to the questions you ask him.''

Selig, who did not return a telephone call seeking comment, has denied any improprieties.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., backed Selig, saying contraction ``should not cause questions about the integrity of a good man who has devoted his life to baseball and to his community.''

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called for congress to investigate ``the shady and self-serving practices of the owners.''

Meanwhile, management lawyer Rob Manfred testified Friday during the ninth day of the hearing on the grievance by the players' association to block contraction. The hearing, before arbitrator Shyam Das, is scheduled to resume Monday, then recess until Jan. 24.

Contraction has been blocked by a Minnesota judge, who issued an injunction on Nov. 16 that forces the Twins to honor their lease at the Metrodome this season. The Minnesota Court of Appeals hasn't ruled on a request by Selig and the Twins to lift the injunction.

McMorris is called the father of contraction by many in baseball because he first proposed the idea, without identifying any teams, in 1999.

After the Star Tribune report, he said Selig and Selig's top lawyer, Bob DuPuy, gave him permission to have Builders Mortgage Company LLC, a Pohlad company, lend money to Tinmath Farms. The loan has not been fully repaid, McMorris said.

``The Colorado Rockies are not doing business with any of Mr. Pohlad's companies,'' McMorris said. ``I went to Bud and said, `I'm going to do this on a private basis. It's a family company.' He checked with Bob DuPuy, I think, and they came back to me and said, `It's fine.' ``

McMorris first proposed contraction to Selig's economic study committee in 1999.

``There is no link with me proposing contraction and the Minnesota Twins,'' McMorris said. ``When I had the discussion with the blue-ribbon panel, it was only a broad economic discussion and certainly did not include any reference to specific teams.''

Pohlad did not return telephone calls Friday seeking comment.