It didn’t take long for the Friar Faithful to learn that Ray Kroc would be a different kind of baseball owner. Padres fans rejoiced when the first-year owner called out his team’s “stupid ballplaying” at the home opener. His players, however, were not exactly thrilled with the McDonald’s founder’s honesty, and neither were some in the opposing dugout.
True baseball guys just didn’t say things like that.
“He thinks he’s in a sales convention dealing with a bunch of short-order cooks,” Astros third baseman Doug Rader said after Kroc grabbed the mic in April 1974.