All ($5,500,000) for Fun

For as long as he can remember, Fred Knorr has been in love with baseball. But as a kid on the sandlots of Detroit, he broke his thumb and spent most of his time on the sidelines. Later, at Hillsdale (Mich.) College, he had to turn in his uniform and spend his spare time working for his tuition. Last week, at 42, Fred Knorr finally decided that he would never make the team. So he did the next best thing. He bought one--the Detroit Tigers.

An ex-sports announcer who has al ready earned enough money to buy himself part of four Michigan radio stations (WKMH, WKMF, WSAM, WKHM), Fred Knorr organized an eleven-man syndicate (including Crooner Bing Crosby, who is also vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates), bought the Tigers from the estate of the late Walter O. Briggs Sr. for $5,500,000, with a promise to keep present President Walter O. ("Spike") Briggs Jr. on the payroll as executive vice president. No one ever paid more for a major league team. (Previous record: $4,550,000, paid by Brewer August A. Busch for the St. Louis Cardinals and ballpark in 1953.) For their money, Fred Knorr and his friends got an arguable bargain: a ball club with vague promise and an all too real position in the second division of the American League. But Fred Knorr was not in the least doubtful about his purchase. "Detroit is the best baseball town in the country," said he, "and one reason we bought the Tigers was to have some fun."

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