That’s certainly not what Ray Kroc would be saying....
1974:
The Padres were once again clobbered in their home opener on April 9, losing 9-5. Kroc spent the game stewing as his team committed such foibles as forgetting the number of outs, and blowing a chance to score with the bases loaded. With the Astros holding onto a 9-2 lead in the ninth, Kroc was finally set off after a pinch runner who’d just entered the game was picked off at first. He stormed from the owners box to the PA booth, grabbed the microphone, and addressed Padres fans as their team’s owner for the first time.
“Fans, I suffer with you. I’ve never seen such stupid ballplaying in my life,” he said. After a streaker briefly interrupted him—Kroc screamed for the man to be thrown in jail—he continued to roast his team. “I have good news and bad news,” he said. “The good news is that the Dodgers drew 31,000 for their opener and we’ve drawn 39,000 for ours. The bad news is that this is the most stupid baseball playing I’ve ever seen.”
Still better than some of the worst teams of the Cubs and A's. But, yeah, Kroc was quite the character.
Wonder if the audio of that is on YT? lol
This is the same Ray Kroc that founded McDonald’s right? I never knew he owned a baseball team. And my favorite ballplayer was on that team that year! (A 22-year-old Dave Winfield, sent to the major leagues directly out of college. He wasn’t bad that year, 22 home runs and a .265 average in a pitcher’s era, but he’d improve every year for the next six years, until getting robbed for the MVP by Keith Hernandez, who had 0.7 fewer WAR, 13 fewer RBI, .045 lower SLG, .033 lower OPS. Both would win gold gloves.)
Wow, it sounds like you just described the MOST “America in the pre-Disco ‘70s” that I have ever heard. McDonald’s (at its peak), baseball, owner speaking directly to the fans, and a streaker!
I cannot top that.