Padres Are Put Up for Sale--but Won’t Move, Kroc Insists

SAN DIEGO â€”  Indicating a desire to pursue other causes and interests, San Diego Padres owner Joan Kroc and President Ballard Smith announced Thursday that the baseball club was for sale.

They said no negotiations are under way and no price has been set.

“We’re going to do this in an orderly fashion,� Kroc said. “We’re not in any hurry. This isn’t a fire sale. We’re looking for a nice guy or a nice woman or a nice group.�

Kroc said there is no deadline for sale of the club. When asked if the search for a buyer could drag on for two years, she said: “I hope not, but it’s possible.�

The criteria, Kroc said, were the same as indicated in full-page advertisements in today’s San Diego papers: “The Padres will stay in San Diego. We will take every step legally available to us to assure that the team will not be moved.�

With that purpose in mind, both Kroc and Smith, her son-in-law, expressed hope that local interests would make offers.

“We’ll give them every opportunity to do so,� Smith said.

In keeping with their insistence that the club stay in San Diego, Smith said the Padres today are having their first meeting with the city to discuss a new lease. Their current lease expires after the 1988 season.

“We’re going to negotiate the lease as quickly as we can with the city,� Smith said, “and the lease will have a provision that says the team stays in San Diego.�

Kroc said: “I guarantee we won’t sell to anyone with the inclination to move the team.�

The National League also will be interested in potential buyers. A franchise sale must be approved by three-fourths of league owners and a majority of all major league owners.

“We would certainly prefer not to have any franchises moved,� National League President Chub Feeney said earlier in the week. “The San Diego franchise is very viable where it is.�

It was the late Ray Kroc who kept the Padres in San Diego when he purchased them on Jan. 25, 1974. At the time, the bags were literally packed and headed for Washington. The purchase price was estimated at between $10 million and $12.5 million. Joan Kroc inherited the franchise when her husband died Jan. 14, 1984, just a few months before the Padres made their only World Series appearance.

“Ray’s dream came to fulfillment (in that World Series appearance),� Kroc said. “That was our best and most exciting moment. We talked of selling at that time. It’s like stock--you buy low and sell high.�

The Padres have never drawn fewer than a million fans under Kroc ownership, except for the strike-interrupted 1981 season. After hitting their peak in 1984, the next two seasons were disappointing and disturbing. The team fell out of contention, but off-the-field problems caused most of the controversy.

Two star players, Alan Wiggins and LaMarr Hoyt, encountered problems with drugs, and a third, Rich Gossage, publicly criticized the front office and ownership, leading to his suspension by Smith. There was also a rift between Kroc and Smith last winter about whether Dick Williams should be retained as manager.

Kroc expressed sadness about her team’s problems, particularly with drugs, but insisted that her decision was based on a desire to concentrate on other activities. She is involved in numerous philanthropic projects, including Ronald McDonald children’s charities, AIDS research, holiday food drives, help for abused children and the International Peace Institute at Notre Dame.

Smith had been rumored to be interested in heading a local group to purchase the club, but he, too, said he wants to concentrate on other interests.

“This isn’t particularly a happy time,� Kroc said, “and it’s not particularly a sad time. We both feel it’s the right time.�

Published reports have recently set the price for the Padres at $50 million. Neither Kroc nor Smith would seriously discuss the possible price.