Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, left, shakes hands with Jim Crane after a news conference to announce a group led by Crane is purchasing the baseball team from McLane, pending approval from Major League Baseball, Monday, May 16, 2011, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
(CBS/AP) MILWAUKEE - Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale of the Houston Astros from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane on Thursday, which will lead to the team moving from the NL Central to the AL West for the 2013 season.
The decision will give each league 15 teams, baseball's first realignment since the Milwaukee Brewers switched from the AL to the NL after the 1997 season.
As part of the Astros' agreement to switch leagues, the sale price was cut from $680 million to $615 million, a person at Thursday's meeting told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details weren't announced,
Major League Baseball will make up part of the $65 million difference, paying McLane $35 million over three years, the person said.
Commissioner Bud Selig said owners also approved two additional wild-card teams for the postseason, meaning 10 of the 30 teams make the playoffs. Selig said he hopes the expanded playoffs can start next year, but he said the specifics are being worked out. The players' association favors the move.
"You do things for a long period of time. The addition will really help us in the long run," Selig said.
Owners also approved longtime San Francisco Giants executive Larry Baer to replace Bill Neukom as the team's controlling owner.
In addition, MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred said progress was made on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the deal that expires Dec. 11.
Selig saluted McLane, who bought the team in 1992 for about $117 million. The Astros struggled mightily on the field last season, losing 106 games.
"Drayton should have a wonderful legacy of what he did for the Astros, got them a new ballpark and did all these things," Selig said. "He sure left a much better franchise than we he came in."
Crane founded a Houston-based logistics company in 2008. He is chairman and chief executive officer of Crane Capital, a private equity fund company. Two years ago, he was attempting to buy the Chicago Cubs and last summer he tried to purchase the Texas Rangers.
In September, Crane expressed frustration at how long it was taking MLB to move on the sale and noted there is a Nov. 30 deadline.
In 1997, employees of Crane's former company, Eagle USA Airfreight, filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saying there was discrimination. Eagle settled the case in 2005 for about $900,000.
Selig acknowledged the long vetting process.
"I'm very comfortable today telling you he has put together a good group in Houston," the commissioner said.
The Astros currently play in the six-team NL Central. The AL West is the only league in the majors with four teams (Rangers, Angels, Athletics and Mariners).
McLane said it will be difficult, at least at first, to see his team in the other league.
"I've always been a National League fan," he said. "Change is a big part of my life and what I've tried to do in business. I think it's going to be interesting to see the American League teams come in and getting a rivalry with the Rangers. That won't be too bad. It's going to be good."
The move will put the Astros in the same division as Texas. But fans are unhappy the other three teams are all on the West Coast, meaning many road games would routinely end past midnight Central time.
Rangers president Nolan Ryan, who pitched for the Astros during his Hall of Fame career, said he has some of the same feelings as McLane.
"I grew up an Astros fan and I look at the Astros as a National League team but I understand the desire to balance out the two leagues," Ryan said Wednesday.
"From our perspective, I like having them in the same division because it gives us a team in our time zone. ... We've talked about the fact that there will be more interleague play and how does the schedule actually work. ... It's going to bring some dynamics. We're not sure how they'll work. Obviously, it's going to change some things."
Last week, Lance Berkman, a Houston native who spent the first 11-plus years of his career with the Astros, said he wasn't happy with the impending move.
"I think it's a travesty," Berkman said last week. "It's a National League franchise. I think if they were going to do something like that, Milwaukee's the choice to go back to the American League; they're historically an American League franchise.
"It's a shame, I think, that Bud Selig is probably going to make that be sort of a condition of the sale. I don't like it. Even when I retire and live here in Houston, I don't want to go watch American League baseball. I'd like to have a National League team."
McLane bought the team in November 1992 for about $117 million. He turned down an offer from Crane to buy the franchise in 2008.
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