PORTLAND, Maine -- The owner of the Triple-A Maine Guides baseball team admitted Wednesday he refused an offer by the International League to investigate his complaint against a Pennsylvania group that wanted to buy his team.
Testifying in his $4 million breach-of-contract suit against Northeast Baseball Inc., Jordan Kobritz said league President Harold Cooper had offered to have the board of directors hear his complaint against John McGee, president of the Scranton, Pa., organization. But Kobritz said he declined.
Kobritz filed suit in U.S. District Court against Northeast Baseball Oct. 21, claiming the company violated its contract by failing to provide him with a Double-A franchise as partial payment for the Guides.
The league became party to the suit Nov. 7.
When he told Cooper about his problem with McGee, Kobritz testified that Cooper offered to hold a special board meeting to review documents from Kobritz and McGee. The board would determine who owned the Triple-A team.
'He (Cooper) said he would call a special meeting for the league to hear proposals from me and Mr. McGee,' Kobritz said under cross examination.
He later added, 'He never told me he needed my request' to do that.
In testimony earlier Wednesday, Kobritz said he never agreed to sell the Guides without a Double-A team in return, even though his business partners authorized him to do so.
Kobritz said he had agreed in principle to sell the Guides to McGee last fall, in exchange for $2 million and the franchise to McGee's Double-A Eastern League team in Waterbury, Conn.
He said he decided to sell the 3-year-old Guides last June when the team was in last place and he was more than $1 million in debt.
Under cross examination by Northeastern lawyer Thomas Wheatley, Kobritz admitted he had considered getting out of the baseball business, as well as selling the Guides' home stadium in Old Orchard Beach, The Ballpark.
'I said I was not certain I wanted to stay around and run a Double-A baseball team forever,' he said.
Wheatley asked Kobritz about talks he had with people, other than McGee, who were interested in buying the Guides. Kobritz denied that he failed to stipulate that any deal must include a Double-A team.
Federal Judge Gene Carter is expected to decide Kobritz's suit by the end of the week.
Following Kobritz's two days testimony, McGee was expected to take the stand Thursday. He has said that Kobritz had agreed to sell the Guides to Northeastern Baseball, even if the Double-A Eastern League failed to approve transfer of the Waterbury franchise to Maine, which it did.
