LOS ANGELES (AP) Fired Dodgers chief executive Jamie McCourt
made a case for her job performance with the team, saying she was
handling daily operations even before she was named to lead the
franchise in February.
''I was handling everything from catsup dispenser to whether
(manager) Joe Torre should be hired,'' McCourt, 55, told the Los
Angeles Times in a column published Wednesday.
She also reiterated her intent to buy the storied franchise.
McCourt was fired last month by her husband and Dodgers owner
Frank McCourt. Soon after, she filed for divorce after 30 years of
marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
The couple are fighting over who is the team's rightful owner. A
court commissioner has denied her bid to be reinstated as CEO.
Marshall Grossman, an attorney representing the Dodgers, said
Frank McCourt declined comment.
Frank McCourt previously said his wife did a poor job after
being promoted as the first female chief executive in Major League
Baseball.
Jamie McCourt countered that her husband plotted to boot her
from the team's front office as a way to humiliate and ostracize
her. She eventually lodged a workplace harassment complaint with
team attorneys.
Jamie McCourt also said she would like to assemble a coalition
of Los Angeles investors from various demographics to acquire the
team.
''When you have partners and you have equity, you have an
opportunity and the wherewithal to have an expanded budget for
player compensation,'' she said.
To her dismay, the messy breakup has played out in hundreds of
pages of court documents filed in the divorce case. Frank McCourt
said in the filings she was having an affair with her
bodyguard-driver, a former Dodgers employee.
''Absolutely not,'' Jamie McCourt told the newspaper. ''I have
never been with another man until the marriage broke up. Ever.
Ever.''
Jamie McCourt has said in court documents the couple's worth is
estimated at more than $1.2 billion, with the Dodgers accounting
for about $800 million of that amount. She is seeking more than
$300,000 a month in spousal support.
A hearing is set for Dec. 15.
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com
(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)