The son of Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton took to Twitter to take to give a long rant about the state of the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans. It started perhaps because he was tired of answering questions about the team. This Middleton is a Hollywood producer, not the owner. That is his father's situation. His father, John Middleton, made his fortune in the cigar business, which he sold for $2.7 billion in 2007.
But yet, Middleton Jr. had this to say:
To whom it may concern, I have not read these articles – not because I'm not interested in fan opinion but rather because false conjecture bothers me – but I have heard from friends in Philly there is wild speculation today over the Phillies. Remember 99% of what you read is totally inaccurate. And one more point brought to my attention. A general partner control baseball operating decisions. Limited partners vote on a variety of things, which may or may not be specifically on the field related. Limited partners are owners, the people involved in said limited partnership are equity shareholders and directors technically. The structure is far more complexed than it appears is being discussed and understood in articles and/or online.
Also, I am a film and tv producer – seemingly confusion there also. But there's this fantastic invention called Google, as well as other sites like IMDbPro (regular often inaccurate). I live in Malibu because I work in LA.
One thing I can tell you, the Phillies are doing their best in a bad situation. The team just gave you arguably one of the three best runs in NL history, the others being, in my opinion, the 60s Cardinals and 90s Braves. Philly prides itself on being tough, but also LOYAL to its core.
Changes and new additions, rough stretches, these are a fact of sport. Death, taxes, and your sports team will not win the championship every year. So please continue to support a team trying to right its ship, certainly spending the money necessary to do so, and look forward to the upswing and many more years of great baseball, consecutive pennants and division titles, and world championships to come. I'm proud to be a Philadelphian, but I'm not proud a fan base built on LOYALTY is abandoning ship because of a series of bad years.
What I tend to disagree with, and take issue with, is this last paragraph.
1) I did not renew my season tickets for this past season after having a full-game plan for five years straight. The reason was a lack of changes, a lack of new additions. I have said time and time again I would pay to watch young players, but paying to watch a few minds try to hold on to 2008 for way too long is not worth my money. Why should I pay for someone else's personal attachment?
2) I do believe that changes are on the way; I just think that they are happening way too late. I still feel had this process begun two years ago, stating that changes would have to take place would have more effect. After two sunk seasons where the team was left to be stagnant and unproductive, there is nobody looking to reject change, which is what Middleton seems to imply. The fans are hungry for change, but have yet to see it. While they retain certain affections for certain players, they understand the need for the greater picture to be changed.
