DES MOINES, Iowa – The owner of the minor league Iowa Cubs, Michael Gartner, called his employees together to report that the sale of the baseball team had been completed. He gave each an envelope with what he called their new “business cards.” Inside was $2,000 for every year that each had been with the club. In all, Gartner gave away $600,000. Gartner, 83, is a former president of NBC News who never forgot his Iowa roots. He started at the Des Moines Register in sports at age 15. Along the way he’s been an editor at the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Des Moines Register and the the Louisville Courier-Journal, and president of the Iowa university system regents. Gartner holds the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for editorials about community issues.
Gartner. Owned The Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs 22 years. Sold to fast-expanding Diamond minor league holding company.