Raw footage for the documentary "Veeck: A Man For Any Season." In this tape, Bill Veeck and John Mengelt continue to talk about the business of baseball at Lake Michigan, with the Chicago skyline in the background.
00:00Copy video clip URL Bars and Tone.
00:38Copy video clip URL Bill Veeck and John Mengelt resume their conversation.
01:21Copy video clip URL Veeck says that the Tribune company doesn’t care about the wins and losses of the Cubs; they only care about selling advertising. They don’t care about drawing fans to the game.
03:53Copy video clip URL John Mengelt disagrees. He does not see a real distinction between wanting the team to win for advertising revenue or gate revenue.
05:12Copy video clip URL Veeck argues that before free agency, you could not buy a baseball player, you could only afford to develop a player.
05:30Copy video clip URL They talk about television and the television fan. Owners are “so greedy that they would rather spoil a ballpark like Wrigley Field” with advertisements and PA announcements and charging bleacher fans in advance. “You don’t get the fans annoyed at you for a cheap buck; if you’re going to get them annoyed, it’s for a big score.”
07:30Copy video clip URL Mengelt argues that sports is now a business and there’s no way around it. Veeck contends that other businesses are regulated. He believes some practices should be declared inimical to the fans. He predicts that baseball games will be divided into two 4.5 inning games, and that you’ll have to pay twice to get in.
09:30Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about his time working with the Harlem Globetrotters. He claims that when he worked with them, they were not the commodity they are now, but they were able to beat the champions of the day.
11:50Copy video clip URL Veeck says the Globetrotters were a phenomenon that defies imagination, because no one ever pushed to desegregate them. He speculates it was because they were viewed as entertainment, not a business.
14:00Copy video clip URL Veeck does not believe that any major colleges have “amateur” players. The scholarships make them no longer amateurs. Mengelt argues that people once perceived the games as fun, and now the alumni get mad when the team loses and want to fire the coach because of money.
15:29Copy video clip URL Veeck believes that major universities who sell out football games should simply hire players. The players deserve a piece of the financial pie.
17:49Copy video clip URL Mengelt disagrees with taking kids out of high school to do professional sports. Veeck argues that the kids can still go to school while playing, but Mengelt makes the point that in most cases that’s not allowed.
18:21Copy video clip URL End of tape.
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