La Velle E. Neal III's Sunday Insider: Baseball's finances improved because of Pohlad

Carl Pohlad, who died on Monday, frequently was at his Minneapolis office -- where else would he be on a Saturday? -- when the phone would ring at 11:30 a.m.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig would be on the other end, ready for their weekly talk.

They covered all subjects: baseball, politics, family or life in general. They would laugh sometimes and stress over the future of the sport other times.

It wasn't too long ago, right when MLB was about to hit $6.5 billion in revenues, Pohlad said to Selig, "I can't believe how far we have come."

Selig, during a phone interview on Wednesday from his Milwaukee office, talked about those Saturday morning phone calls as well as Pohlad's legacy as the Twins owner. It was easy to tell from Selig's stories and the tone of his voice that there was a special bond between them.

"He and I have had a lot of conversations," Selig said. "He's one of the people I've felt closest to in my lifetime."

Mentioning Selig and Pohlad in the same sentence elicits certain emotions in Twinsland. I know. At the height of the contraction capers of 2001, someone mailed me a movie card from the film "The Sting" -- but Selig's and Pohlad's faces were superimposed over Robert Redford's and Paul Newman's.

Fans will never forget their roles at the time in baseball's attempt to contract the Twins and Expos. And while the Pohlad family admits their mistakes while trying to secure a stadium deal over the years -- and Selig's acknowledgement that stadium wars wore Pohlad down -- Selig maintains that Pohlad was a critical figure in the league emerging from its financial messes in the mid-1990s.

"He meant a great deal because disparity had grown," Selig said. "It was huge. It was worrisome. The sport was in trouble."

Pohlad applied his banking expertise to running the Twins, and he also pushed the rest of the league to make financial changes. The current system -- with some revenue sharing and a luxury tax on clubs with very large payrolls -- is not as extensive as, say, the NFL's revenue-sharing, but is better than what MLB had before.

Revenues in the mid-1990s were just over $1 billion but have gained steadily until the recent economic downturn, which might end the streak of gains.

"In the 1990s, the leader of the small- and medium-market clubs was Carl Pohlad," Selig said. "No one knows this, but we called the committee the Pohlad Committee. The role he played for small- and medium-market teams was magnificent. I can't tell you the admiration I have for that man and I'm a better person today because I know Carl Pohlad."

Pohlad finally got funding for a $522 million ballpark in 2007, of which he's paying about $145 million. That created another Saturday morning talking point with Selig.

Selig tried to persuade Pohlad to add a roof to what will soon be Target Field. Selig, who still strolls through the pressbox at the Brewers' Miller Park during the season, mentioned to a slightly husky sportswriter a couple of years ago that he pleaded the point with Pohlad during those Saturday calls, and even sent him data on weather patterns and possible rainouts in the Twin Cities area during baseball season.

Well, fans will still have to bring rain gear on overcast days and certain eyewear for sunny days.

Selig was reminded of his attempts on Wednesday.

"That shows you how persuasive I was!" Selig said with a chuckle.

The Saturday phone calls between the two men began soon after Pohlad bought the team in 1984, and continued until about six months ago, when Pohlad could no longer make it to his office. Selig came to town three weeks ago to see Pohlad, whose condition had worsened. Pohlad died Monday at age 93, and Selig was back in town Thursday with several league dignitaries at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis for the funeral service.

"I'm going to miss him," Selig said. "Man, I'm going to miss him."

La Velle E. Neal III • lneal@startribune.com