The Wall Street Journal - 24.02.2020

A14| Monday, February 24, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

the settlement.

Crane said the incident was iso-

lated to two employees in the Mid-

dle East and that he was “not in-

volved in any way.”

“When we became aware of it,

the company cooperated fully with

the government to ensure that these

employees were brought to justice,”

Crane said.

Five years later, the company

agreed to plead guilty and pay mil-

lions more in a case that alleged em-

ployees, “including high-level per-

sonnel,” conspired with other freight

forwarders to collude on prices. Al-

though he was in charge of the com-

pany, Crane wasn’t named as having

been involved with these acts.

When Crane purchased the Astros

in 2011, the people familiar with the

matter said the deal was put

through an unusually extensive vet-

ting process because of the weighty

allegations against Crane and his

businesses. Selig was particularly

sensitive to the accusations of rac-

ism and discrimination because of

the sport’s historical trouble with in-

tegration, two of the people said. Se-

lig, who retired as commissioner in

2015, declined to comment through a

spokesman.

During the course of the process,

later, he hired Jeff Luhnow to be the

Astros’ general manager. MLB offi-

cials have considered him a model

owner for his efforts in philanthropy

and promoting youth baseball.

“They conducted their diligence,

looked into my companies and de-

termined that there was no reason

for concern,” Crane said. “Since that

time, I have operated one of the

most diverse clubs in baseball.”

Under Crane, the Astros em-

barked on an unprecedented rebuild

and organizational overhaul. The As-

tros won the 2017 World Series and

became the sport’s standard-bearer.

Then came the reckoning of their

sign-stealing scandal, which resulted

in MLB suspending Luhnow and

manager A.J. Hinch for the entire

2020 season, after which Crane fired

them. Crane replaced Hinch by hir-

ing Dusty Baker, the second black

field manager he hired during his

tenure. The Astros ranked third

among all teams in MLB’s annual

survey of diversity in the workforce.

Crane was not disciplined by MLB

for the Astros’ sign-stealing. The

league fined the Astros $5 million

and took away top draft picks—“a

reflection of the fact that we felt

there was organizational responsibil-

ity,” Manfred said.

MLB investigators did extensive out-

reach to people with details of his

dealings, including the EEOC case,

one of the people said. The approval

process, which typically takes just a

matter of weeks, lasted six months.

The people say Crane had a cou-

ple important factors on his side

that helped usher the deal through.

For one, he was willing to move the

Astros to the American League, a

move others were unwilling to make.

MLB was so keen on making this

happen that Crane wound up receiv-

ing a roughly 10% discount on his

purchase price.

“The negotiation of the Astros

move to the American League was

the driving factor in the length of

the vetting process,” said Giles

Kibbe, the Astros’ senior vice presi-

dent and general counsel. “Switching

from the National to American

League required renegotiation of

terms, which took months.”

Moreover, there was that price:

Even with the discount, it was

among the highest ever for a base-

ball franchise, and a rich sale has the

effect of boosting club values for all

owners across the league.

Crane was approved by a unani-

mous vote of team owners in No-

vember 2011. Less than a month

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES

When Jim Crane

bought the Astros in

2011, MLB had

concerns about his

business history. The

team has become the

epicenter of baseball’s

biggest scandal.

Nine years ago, Major League

Baseball owners and executives pri-

vately wrestled with a difficult ques-

tion: Should they allow Jim Crane to

buy the Houston Astros?

The Texas businessman had of-

fered $680 million to purchase the

team, a sum that would mark the

second-highest price ever for a base-

ball franchise at the time. But behind

closed doors, owners and executives,

including then-commissioner Bud

Selig, were concerned about Crane’s

business history, people familiar

with the matter said.

Crane’s logistics business faced

allegations of bigotry, sexism and

systemic discrimination. His com-

pany was later accused of price fix-

ing and defrauding the U.S. govern-

ment to profiteer off the Iraq war.

The sale was ultimately approved.

Now, nine years later, another of

Crane’s businesses has been accused

of breaking the rules: his baseball

team.

The Astros, MLB determined, ille-

gally stole signs with the use of

technology on their way to winning

a World Series championship in

2017. Their players relayed pitch in-
      formation to hitters in real time by
      banging on a trash can positioned
      near their home dugout.
      Crane said he had no knowledge
      of the scheme, and MLB has backed
      his denial. On Tuesday, MLB com-
      missioner Rob Manfred said there
      was “literally not a shred of evi-
      dence to the contrary.”
      Last week Crane said, “I don’t
      think I should be held accountable”
      for the misdeeds of the franchise he
      oversees. In a statement to The Wall
      Street Journal issued on Thursday,
      he apologized for the Astros’ ac-
      tions.
      “I know that this has caused dam-
      age to the game of baseball,” Crane
      said. “For that, I am deeply sorry. I
      understand that I am ultimately re-
      sponsible for this team, and I am en-
      tirely focused on implementing
      changes in our organization that will
      ensure that this never happens
      again.”
      Concerns over Crane’s business
      history, including allegations that he
      discriminated against minorities and
      women, had surfaced long before he
      entered the rollicking world of pro-
      fessional sports—so much so that

2011

The year MLB approved Jim Crane’s

purchase of the Houston Astros

Weather

Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Hi LoW Hi LoW City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow

City Hi LoW Hi LoW

Anchorage 15 6 pc 23 14 sn

Atlanta 55 51 r 68 45 r

Austin 75 43 pc 65 36 pc

Baltimore 57 41 pc 53 44 r

Boise 45 25 pc 46 28 pc

Boston 58 42 s 49 41 r

Burlington 47 32 pc 41 31 c

Charlotte 51 47 r 67 50 r

Chicago 42 35 r 39 28 sn

Cleveland 48 39 r 46 39 r

Dallas 66 44 s 58 33 pc

Denver 38 18 c 26 13 sf

Detroit 45 35 r 41 33 r

Honolulu 82 70 pc 82 70 s

Houston 75 50 sh 70 42 pc

Indianapolis 45 41 r 47 30 c

Kansas City 45 32 r 41 26 c

Las Vegas 70 47 s 64 42 s

Little Rock 68 41 t 59 34 pc

Los Angeles 72 55 pc 81 56 s

Miami 79 69 pc 84 71 pc

Milwaukee 39 34 c 37 27 sn

Minneapolis 37 27 pc 34 20 sn

Nashville 55 48 r 57 38 pc

New Orleans 75 60 t 66 48 r

New York City 56 42 pc 50 43 r

Oklahoma City 55 37 pc 50 27 c

Omaha 44 28 c 37 20 sn

Orlando 81 61 pc 86 65 c

Philadelphia 59 42 pc 51 45 r

Phoenix 71 48 s 72 46 s

Pittsburgh 48 38 r 51 41 r

Portland, Maine 49 34 pc 44 32 r

Portland, Ore. 49 33 c 53 41 c

Sacramento 73 43 s 75 43 pc

St. Louis 52 38 r 44 30 c

Salt Lake City 42 26 c 41 25 s

San Francisco 64 47 s 69 50 s

Santa Fe 52 21 s 40 16 pc

Seattle 48 37 pc 51 43 c

Sioux Falls 38 26 pc 31 15 sn

Wash., D.C. 57 46 pc 57 47 r

Amsterdam 51 41 r 46 37 c

Athens 63 50 s 64 49 s

Baghdad 78 59 pc 71 51 r

Bangkok 95 75 pc 96 76 c

Beijing 54 37 c 51 34 c

Berlin 45 38 pc 47 34 sh

Brussels 53 39 c 48 34 sh

Buenos Aires 82 65 s 76 62 pc

Dubai 86 69 pc 90 72 pc

Dublin 52 33 r 43 33 sh

Edinburgh 40 34 r 42 30 c

Frankfurt 54 46 c 51 34 r

Geneva 62 41 s 49 37 sh

Havana 85 64 pc 87 68 pc

Hong Kong 73 66 pc 75 66 pc

Istanbul 54 41 c 53 47 s

Jakarta 86 77 sh 86 76 t

Jerusalem 55 45 sh 53 45 sh

Johannesburg 76 52 pc 81 58 pc

London 54 37 r 48 35 sh

Madrid 68 34 s 62 37 pc

Manila 89 76 c 89 73 s

Melbourne 78 67 sh 86 58 pc

Mexico City 83 53 s 80 50 pc

Milan 65 44 pc 56 39 c

Moscow 38 27 c 35 25 s

Mumbai 93 77 pc 93 76 pc

Paris 57 45 c 51 36 sh

Rio de Janeiro 82 72 pc 86 76 t

Riyadh 90 67 pc 92 52 pc

Rome 63 49 pc 63 51 pc

San Juan 82 74 sh 83 74 sh

Seoul 55 42 pc 50 37 r

Shanghai 72 58 pc 76 49 pc

Singapore 86 78 pc 87 77 pc

Sydney 80 67 c 81 71 pc

Taipei City 81 64 pc 83 65 s

Tokyo 56 47 s 58 49 pc

Toronto 44 31 c 39 31 sn

Vancouver 45 32 sh 44 35 c

Warsaw 4535pc 5133sh

Zurich 61 40 pc 50 34 sh

Today Tomorrow

U.S. Forecasts

International

City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

s...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;

t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice

Today Tomorrow

Warm

Cold

Stationary

Showers

Rain

T-storms

Snow

Flurries

Ice

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Jacksonville

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Charlotte

Louisville

Pittsburgh

New York

Salt Lake City

Tampa

Nashville

Memphis

Detroit

Kansas

City

El Paso Dallas

Billings

Portland

Miami

San Francisco

Sacramento

Orlando

Atlanta

Houston New Orleans

Phoenix

San Diego

Los Angeles

Las

Vegas

Seattle

Boise

Denver

Mpls./St. Paul

St. Louis

Chicago

Washington D.C.

Boston

Charleston

Milwaukee Hartford

Wichita

Indianapolis

Cleveland

Buffalo

Austin

Helena

Bismarck

Albuquerque

Omaha

Oklahoma City

San Antonio

Des Moines

Sioux Falls

Jackson

Birmingham

Philadelphia

Reno Cheyenne

Santa Fe

Colorado

Springs

Pierre

Richmond

Raleigh

Tucson

Albany

Topeka

Columbia

Augusta

Ft. Worth

Eugene

Springfield

Mobile

Toronto

Ottawa

Montreal

Winnipeg

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

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HOLD IT!| By Gary Cee

Across

1 Smaller amount

5 Old Italian

currency

9 Made a choice

14 Female French

friend

15 Pronto, for short

16 Picture’s

perimeter

17 • YouTube upload

19 Sum

20 1960s English

group ___ and

the Pacemakers

21 Similar to

23 Even the score

24 Judge’s request

25 • Jamaican

sprinter with

eight Olympic

gold medals

27 Vice squad action

28 Painter Hals

29 Pinkish hue

30 Jr. naval rank

31 Liverpudlian or

Londoner, for

example

32 Place for a milk

bath

34 With 36-Across,

“This has strings

attached,” and a

hint to the ends

of the starred

answers

36 See 34-Across

39 ___ chi (martial

art)

40 FBI agent,

informally

41 Singer Orbison

43 Particularly

impressive

46 “I do” sayer

48 Pungent flavor

49 • Left jab

counterpunch

51 Bactrian camel’s

pair

52 ___ Arbor,

Michigan

53 Marginally

54 Risk

55 Disapproving

look

57 • Pea variety

60 Shudder-

inducing

61 There are 192 in

a qt.

62 Famed London

art institution

63 Riffraff

64 Unicycle part

65 Large number

TheWSJDailyCrossword |Edited by Mike Shenk

1234 5678 910111213

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25 26

27 28 29

30 31 32 33

34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41 42

43 44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51

52 53 54

55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62

63 64 65

s

Solve this puzzle online and discuss it at WSJ.com/Puzzles.

Down

1 Restroom,

informally

2 Participant in an

exodus

3 Baked potato or

green beans, say

4 Hit the ceiling

5 Frilly, as lingerie

6 Land in the sea:

Abbr.

7 Denounces

angrily

8 Ancient Italy’s

___ Way

9 Many a time

10 Seasoned vet

11 Skin picture

12 Fill for a phone

inbox

13 Take out

18 Bobby of

Boston Bruins

fame

22 Potentially

embarrassing

stadium feature

24 Metal source

25 “Trinity” writer

Leon

26 Oktoberfest

sausage

28 Hauler’s cargo

31 Lingerie item

33 Scathing review

35 Carve into glass

36 Run ___ (lose

control)

37 Burglar or

bootlegger

38 Tabletop cooker

40 What things

should be put to

42 Agreeable

answer

43 Got rid of, in a

way

44 Lobster claw

45 Disregard

47 Some Sunday

entrees

48 Blows up

50 Yarns

51 Unnamed

woman

54 Days gone by

56 Costume party

headwear

58 Academic

measure at a

univ.

59 Congregants’

bench

Previous Puzzle’s Solution

The contest answer is TETRIS. The grid contains six

areas where four of the same letter appear in the

shapes of six of the seven Tetris pieces. (The

seventh is the four-in-a-row straight LINE piece

clued at 14-Across.)The six letters in these shapes

spell the contest answer.

FILL BAGS LEFT

CAMEO L I NE I SEE

SCOTTTUROW EPEE

P I NATA MUM O L D

AL I T NOTEPADS

NET SNUBS NOI SY

EWE R S RA T T L E

HORRORS CATTOYS

QUARRY HONEY

SIMON GUISE ABE

BR I ANENO ATOM

TWO N I A MU C KU P

WI IG DRESSSHIRT

AS I A ALSO SONNY

SH I P NYPD ROSE

MLB investigators conducted an un-

usually exhaustive vetting process

on him prior to the sale, people fa-

miliar with the process said. “We ad-

dressed every issue that came up,

and our ownership bid was approved

by unanimous vote,” Crane said.

Crane, 66 years old, founded the

company then called Eagle USA Air-

freight in 1984. The company, later

called Eagle Global Logistics, went

public in 1995 and grew to a busi-

ness with thousands of employees

and hundreds of millions in annual

revenue.

But not long after, the Equal Em-

ployment Opportunity Commission

issued a 104-page report—far longer

than most—that accused Crane and

EGL of discriminating against black,

Hispanic and female employees. The

federal agency found it paid these

employees less than its white male

counterparts, imposed undue disci-

pline on them, failed to adequately

investigate incidents of sexual ha-

rassment and went out of its way to

avoid hiring these groups of people.

Crane, according to the EEOC, told

his underlings to not hire black em-

ployees.

“Once you hire blacks, you can

never fire them,” the EEOC report

alleged Crane said. He also allegedly

reasoned that hiring black employ-

ees would lead to litigation because

they would be mistreated by other

bigoted employees at EGL. Crane

and the company denied the allega-

tions.

The investigation included inter-

views with more than 125 witnesses,

produced thousands of documents

and was ultimately settled in 2001

for $9 million. Of that, $8.5 million

was used to set up a settlement

fund, with approximately $903,

paid out to claimants. Around $

million was returned to EGL, and

$1.4 million was allocated for a lead-

ership development program. In an-

other EEOC case around the same

time, the jury sided with EGL.

Crane, in his statement to The

Journal, said the plaintiffs in the

EEOC lawsuits didn’t receive any

money. “It’s really unfortunate that,

once allegations are made, they

never go away,” Crane said.

Over the next decade, Crane’s

business again faced trouble—this

time allegedly involving profiteering

during the Iraq war, kickbacks and

price fixing, though Crane wasn’t ac-

cused of being involved with the ac-

tions. In 2006, EGL entered an

agreement with the U.S. government

to settle accusations of fraud, paying

the U.S. $4 million to settle potential

civil claims that the company had in-

flated invoices of military cargo

shipments to Iraq with bogus “war

risk surcharges.” The company’s in-

ternal investigation uncovered more

than $1 million in false surcharges, it

said in a 2005 SEC filing ahead of

Baseball Had

Lengthy Study

Of Astros Owner

SPORTS

BYANDREWBEATON

ANDJAREDDIAMOND