David Glass

David Dayne Glass

• School Southwest Missouri State University

• Born September 2, 1935 in Oregon County, MO USA
• Died January 9, 2020 in Bentonville, AR USA

Biographical Information

The owner of the Kansas City Royals from 2000 to 2019, David Glass made his fortune as an executive at Wal-Mart.

Glass became the interim CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Royals on September 23, 1993, following the death of the founding owner, Ewing Kauffman. On April 18, 2000, Glass became sole owner of the Royals, purchasing the organization for $96 million from Kaufman's estate. In August 2019, stories began circulating that Glass was interested in selling the team and that he was in discussion with John Sherman, a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians, to net a purchase price of around $1.1 billion, a rather nice return on his investment for two decades of ownership. The agreement on a price of $1 billion was announced on August 30th, with the sale approved by Major League Baseball owners on November 6th. Health problems and his advancing age prompted Glass to sell the team. Indeed, he passed away only a few months after the purchase was completed.

The Royals did reach the World Series twice during his tenure, in 2014 and 2015, winning it the second year, but for most of his time the team was both non-competitive and run on a skin-flint budget that belied the winning tradition the franchise had developed in its first two decades of existence before losing its way in the 1990s - right around the time he became the team's chief executive, in fact. It was no coincidence, as he brought to the team the culture of cost-cutting that has been the hallmark of Wal-Mart's success, privileging profitability over competitiveness. He was also one of the most militant members of the owners group during the 1994 strike. That said, he was very active in owners circles serving on various MLB boards and committees, was a director of the Hall of Fame and was generally well-liked among peers and those who worked for him.

Further Reading

• Jeffrey Flanagan: "David Glass, former Royals owner, dies at 84", mlb.com, January 17, 2020. [1]
• Bob Nightengale: "Owner David Glass agrees to sell Kansas City Royals to local businessman for $1 billion", USA Today, August 30, 2019. [2]