‘Cranky’ Judge in Rangers Case Seeks Painless Death if Threats Prove True, Slams DH Rule
A judge who oversaw the Texas Rangers reorganization doesn’t like lawyers trying the case in the media, doesn’t like the designated hitter rule, and doesn’t like interminable playoffs or long baseball bankruptcies.
Those were among the revelations contained in a tape recording of a July 9 session with the lawyers in the chambers of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge D. Michael Lynn, according to the New York Times. Lynn granted a Times motion to unseal the tapes on Monday. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Bloomberg also had stories.
The session that was “in many ways, a portrait of a cranky judge,” the Times says. Lynn said he felt bullied by lawyers who were trying their cases in the media and indicated he wanted the reorganization over as soon as possible. “I just want to get out of this case,” he said.
Lynn also commented on threats from irate fans that had been e-mailed to the court-approved chief restructuring officer for the Rangers. “I’ve alerted the U.S. Marshals because I don’t want to see my home vandalized,” he told the lawyers. “If any of your clients want to take a contract out on me, tell them to be sure to aim true and to make it as painless as possible. Do you understand me?”
At another point, Lynn commented about Major League Baseball. “I don’t like what’s been done to it, with the designated hitter and interleague play and an interminable playoff,” he said. “But I used to love baseball, and I can talk baseball with—at least in terms of people like Whitey Ford and Bob Turley and their ilk—until hell freezes over.”
