Silver Seasons and a New Frontier: The Story of the Rochester Red Wings, Second Edition

14 The Good. the Bad. and the Ugly

14 The Good. the Bad. and the Ugly Because it's Morrie Silver Stadium, f can't say that doesn't make me {eef good. My husband worked so hard for it. Bllt I still say the mailz thing was, 1 felt the stadium should be there for the people. Some day they're goi"g to change it. Ufe goes on, 81ft tlJey're not going to blli/d fa new stadium} as long as I'm alive. -Anna Silver, 1982 For twenty-five years, many of the stock certificates that had been purchased to save the Red Wings in 1956 languished in sock drawers, /lIe cabinets, and attics. Shareholders passed away, or passed on their srock, and keeping track of the many stockholders became increasingly difficult. In 1977, a Syracuse consulting firm determined that Silver Sta~ dium, then fony-eight years old, needed structural work. Some politicians wanted to spend the minimal $2.5 million for the safety repairs. Others wanted to completely renovate the ballpark with new lighting, seats, roof, scoreboard, and parking facilities for $8 million and turn Silver into a multipurpose facility. The aging stadium would become the catalyst for a bitter proxy fight. "We took a survey of shareholders last May," Rochester Community Baseball treasurer larry Edwards said in January 1982. "We had 534 people respond and 92 percent wanted to renovate Silver Stadium. And 68 percent said they wanted to go beyond the minimum safety requirements and make the stadium attractive and available for Olher events." 191 192 SILVER SEASONS Anna "Bert" Silver was nOl among them. The wife of Morrie Silver had joined the board of directors following her husband's death in 1974 but soon found herself at odds with her colleagues on several issues. Foremost among them was the future of Silver Stadium. "We'll keep our options open," she said in response to Edwards's comments, "but right now we see no need for anything but baseball [at Silver):' During an ReB board meeting one night in 1981, president Bill Farrell brought up the possibility of building a new stadium in the Rochester suburb of Henrietta. The suggestion did not sit well with Mrs. Silver, who saw no need [0 leave the facility on Norron Street. A divisiveness began within the dub's leaders, one that would grow deeper. o Longtime Wings radio broadcaster Pete Brown had undergone bypass surgery during the winter of 1979-80, then returned for the 1980 season. His duties were curtailed, yet he continued to be paid in fuJI, a situation that concerned the board. Ar Farrell's command, Drew gave Brown three options: resume his previous duties, take a cur in pay, or expand his duties to assistant GM. Instead, he resigned under pressure in February 1981. "What more could they want from him?" Anna Silver asked at rhe time. "He had sold all the ads [actually 80 percent) for the upcoming season. They offered him a choice as assistant GM? They didn't need an assistant GM; they had a good GM already. Pete wasn't qualified to be GM, anyway. Then they suggesred a cut in pay for radio work only? He was only making $13,000 to begin with. How much of a cut can you take?" Larry Edwards said Drew's problems with Farrell intensified after Brown leEr. "Bob suddenly began not communicating with Bill," Edwards said at the time. "One day Farrell came to me and said, 'I can't handle this guy anymore.' Then before we could even straighten it out, Drew announced he was resigning. He cited personal reasons. He told us of his problems and, believe me, they were real." Bob Drew had been the Red Wings' general manager since the spring of 1979. Drew was a popular and hard-working GM who resented Farrell's increasingly active role in the day-to-day operation of the club. Frustrated, Drew resigned "for personal reasons" on March 4, 1981, effective October 31. The board accepted his resignation by a twentyfive -to-one vote. When Drew had a change of heart and wanted to re~ scind his resignation-on condition that he wouldn't have ro report ro Farrell-the board fired him. Many loyal fans threatened to boycott the THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY 193 Overflow crowds like this one in late August 1980 would be few and far between at Silver...