10 Things You Didnt Know about Seattle Mariners Owner John W. Stanton
John W. Stanton is the single biggest owner of the Seattle Mariners. Besides that, he was involved and is involved with a number of other businesses as well, which are what enabled him to reach his current position.
1. Huge Baseball Fan
There are cases of people who wind up owning sports franchises without much interest in their sports. However, John W. Stanton isn’t one of them because he is a huge baseball fan. For proof, look no further than the fact that he used to charter planes so that he could make it home in time to coach his children’s baseball games.
2. Cried When the Seattle Pilots Left
For that matter, consider Stanton’s claim that he cried when the Seattle Pilots left in 1969. In short, the Seattle Pilots were the previous professional baseball team based in the city. Unfortunately, a combination of stadium issues plus performance issues meant that the team suffered considerable losses in their first season, so much so that it became unsustainable without a relocation to somewhere else.
3. Likes Making Movie Analogies
Amusingly, Stanton seems to enjoy movies in addition to sports, as shown by how he has a fondness for making movie analogies when it comes to his speech. For example, he has compared the time that he won the first cellular license in Seattle to the final scene in The Candidate. In short, said movie featured a political election specialist choosing the son of a state governor to run as the Democratic candidate against a popular Republican incumbent. The Democratic candidate was never intended to win, but a series of coincidences see him surge in the polls, so much so that he managed to squeeze out a win. As a result, the final scene involved the successful Democratic candidate asking the political election specialist, “What do we do now?” Something that was never answered by the movie itself.
4. Very Focused Individual
With that said, interested individuals shouldn’t let Stanton’s fondness of making movie analogies fool them into thinking he is someone that he is not. Simply put, Stanton might be fond of the movies, but he is also a very focused individual. One excellent example of this can be seen in how he memorized the population sizes of the 90 biggest U.S. markets so that he could calculate the cellular prices for each one of them off of the top of his head. Furthermore, Stanton isn’t just someone who memorizes a great deal of information but also someone who will follow up on the memorized information, thus cementing him in the minds of those he interacts with.
5. Recognizes His Own Weaknesses
Most people have a combination of strengths and weaknesses. Something that successful business people are not exempt from. In Stanton’s case, this would be a lack of aptitude for working well with others, which hasn’t been helped by what some have called an irritable and impatient temper under certain circumstances. However, what is notable is that Stanton recognizes this issue, with the result that he has worked hard to overcome it. Something that can be a helpful approach for other people out there as well.
6. Good with Social Relationships
As a result, it is interesting to note that Stanton is actually quite good when it comes to social relationships, so much so that it might be his single biggest strength. To an extent, this is helped by the fact that while he has a temper, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Due to this, Stanton is alright with his subordinates calling him out when they feel that he is making a mistake, which is presumably something that has helped him with his business leadership as well.
7. Not a Very Extravagant Person
Since Stanton is the owner of a baseball team who was involved in the wireless business when it was becoming big, it should come as no surprise to learn that he has a personal fortune that is measured in the billions. However, he isn’t a very extravagant person by billionaire standards, as shown by the fact that he is more the kind of person who would be satisfied with a burger, some fries, and some wine rather than something fancier.
8. Very Family-Oriented Person
On the whole, Stanton is a very family-oriented person as well. As mentioned earlier, he is very serious about his family time, as shown by the stories of him chartering planes to participate in his children’s baseball games. Moreover, Stanton was very careful to avoid releasing too much information about his children to the media, not least because he was concerned about their safety and wellbeing.
9. Bought His Shares From Nintendo of America
Stanton was already a minority owner in the Seattle Mariners when Nintendo of America decided to sell most of its majority ownership stake in the baseball team. Apparently, this was always the intention of Nintendo of America, which bought the majority ownership stake to keep the baseball team where it was but had no real interest in keeping it for the long run. As a result, it proceeded to sell most of its ownership to the other owners in 2016, thus reducing its ownership stake to just 10 percent versus the 90 percent held by Stanton and the rest of the Baseball Club of Seattle.
10. Remains Optimistic
Recently, the Seattle Mariners haven’t been doing very well. However, Stanton remains optimistic about the baseball team’s prospects in the long run because this was part of the plan. Simply put, the Seattle Mariners are in the process of building up a better team by making sacrifices in the short run, though only time can tell whether this strategy will pay off or not.
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