Playoff baseball in Atlanta is nothing new for Stan Kasten, who was president of the Braves for the first 12 division championships in their famous streak of 14 in a row. So it seemed like old times Thursday, seeing him at Turner Field for the start of another baseball October.
But it’s entirely different for Kasten this time: His team is in the visitor’s dugout.
Ten years after he resigned as president of the Braves (and Hawks and Thrashers), Kasten is back in town as president and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves’ opponent in the division series.
Kasten stressed in an interview that he has “nothing but the warmest feelings” for the Braves organization. He still wears his 1995 World Series ring, and he still has his home in Sandy Springs. “I’ll get to sleep in my own bed one night this week,” he said happily.
But he also made it clear that he couldn’t be happier to be a Dodger, to be a part of the revival of a storied franchise that had fallen into disrepair.
“The opportunity to do what I do for a brand this important,” Kasten, 61, said this week, “was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
“Jackie (Robinson), Sandy (Koufax), Fernando (Valenzuela), Tommy (Lasorda), Vin (Scully),” he gushed, dropping some of the names of Dodgers lore. “I haven’t used a last name yet, and you know exactly who I mean.”
Kasten’s 27-year career in Atlanta sports management ended in November 2003, with the Hawks and Thrashers in the process of being sold to Atlanta Spirit Group and the Braves planning a payroll reduction.
“I had spent so much time, because of Ted (Turner), being able to build these franchises,” Kasten recalled. “We had become ‘non-core assets’ (to then-owner Time Warner). Remember that term?
“Ownership was selling off the teams in pieces. I said, ‘I have had so much fun building these (teams) and don’t really want to be around for the stuff involved in this.’ I thought it would be a good time for me and a good time for the company (to part ways). And it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.”
Kasten is quick to say that Braves executives Terry McGuirk, John Schuerholz and Frank Wren deserve a lot of credit for what remains “a great organization.” But closing that chapter of his career opened exciting new ones for Kasten.
He was president of the Washington Nationals from 2006 through the 2010 season, after which he resigned and returned home to Atlanta. He and Chicago-based investment billionaire Mark Walter began looking for a team to buy. For a while, they pursued the Houston Astros. Then, something bigger surfaced.
In March 2012, a group including Walter, Kasten, Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and others struck a deal to buy the Dodgers for $2.1 billion.
The record price shocked the industry, but it became easier to comprehend after the Dodgers subsequently signed a local TV deal worth as much as $8 billion over 25 years and then led MLB in home and road attendance this season.
Kasten said the Dodgers are pouring resources into scouting and player development, as his Braves did to set the foundation for their 1990s success. But Kasten did not take the same patient approach that he did here, instead going on a spending binge that swelled the Dodgers’ payroll to $220 million-plus — more than double the Braves’ current $90 million or so — and put the team atop the NL West.
“You can’t come to L.A. and say, ‘Just hang with us, we’re going to be pretty decent,’” Kasten said. “Because of the resources of the market and the resources of ownership, we were able to do both at the same time — long-term scouting/player development while also trying to put the best team we could on the field now. We recognize that in most markets and most ownerships you don’t have the luxury of doing both, but we do.”
