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“you will issue shares on the market and raise money in that fashion.”
    â€œDon’t believe all the rumors you hear, son. You can check with the Commissioner’s office to see if that’s legal. If it is, maybe I’ll think about it.” He chuckled again.
    In her turn, Molly received some hard questioning on the predictable line: her gender. “Molly, do you really believe a woman who has never played the game can successfully manage a Major League team of men?”
    â€œIf I didn’t believe, I would not have taken the job. Why do you believe a woman is not able to manage a team of men? And excuse me, but I have played the game, and played it well, if you will allow me to boast a little bit.”
    â€œBut you played in a women’s league.” Another reporter.
    â€œI did, an excellent league which could give a men’s team from a Triple A league a run for their money. And not only did I play the game, but until ten days ago I was the manager of a professional team holding a position ten games ahead of the second-place team.”
    â€œDon’t you understand Major League players have large egos?” This from yet another reporter, a female. “Won’t they resent playing for a woman?”
    â€œI understand many male sports reporters and broadcasters also have large egos.” There was a laugh from the crowd of reporters. The reporter who had asked the question blushed, but held her ground. “But to answer your question, some may, probably will, have ego problems. But Major League players are not only men, they are highly motivated, skilled and rational men who are interested in winning. Who the manager is, I believe, is a secondary consideration.”
    â€œWill this question be a consideration in signing players to contracts?”
    â€œThat’s not legal. Attitudes toward race and gender matters don’t come into play in signing contracts. We are interested in signing players who are the best available at their positions on the team.”
    â€œWill you sign female coaches also?”
    â€œProbably not. But only because there are none I know of who have risen to the level where they can coach with confidence in themselves and receive the confidence of the players also.”
    â€œHave you approached any potential coaches yet?”
    â€œNo. There won’t be any team to coach before two years’ time. I will address that matter when the time comes.”
    â€œYou mean you will have the authority to hire coaches?”
    â€œOf course. I’m the Manager of the team. Hiring and firing coaches is my prerogative, done in consultation with Larry Henderson.”
    And the questions continued. Molly drew far more questions than did the General Manager, even more than did her father. She was clearly a curiosity in the baseball world, but she had expected that and knew the curiosity would continue until baseball fans became content she could do the job.

3
    There was another group in Las Vegas not only unhappy with the decision to award a Major League Baseball franchise to Mike Malone, but also ready to take drastic action. This group of half a dozen men made millions from that western city, but made it in a dishonest, but not openly so, shady manner. They and their associates owned and operated three casinos and two hotels there and had been lobbying for a franchise for years. They were also closely affiliated with the Cosa Nostra, the mob operating in New York and controlled internationally by the mob headquarters in Sicily. The boss in Las Vegas, presiding at the meeting on the day after Mike Malone’s press conference, was a man named Achille Ricci. A portly man in his early sixties, Ricci was a foul-mouthed man who seemed to live on wine and cigars during the day and huge meals built around pasta late in the evening. For all his wealth and power, he was barely known outside his own group. Ricci deliberately kept a low profile,