Nine years ago, Major League Baseball owners and executives privately wrestled with a difficult question: Should they allow Jim Crane to buy the Houston Astros?
The Texas businessman had offered $680 million to purchase the team, a sum that would mark the second-highest price ever for a baseball 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.
Just three years earlier, Crane had abruptly backed out of a previous deal to buy the Astros. Before that, his logistics business faced allegations of bigotry, sexism and systemic discrimination. His company was later accused of price fixing and defrauding the U.S. government to profiteer off the Iraq war.
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