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The New Savior of the San Francisco Giants: Bill Neukom?

By Ashby Jones

Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants have a lot of problems. Among them: a 17-29 win/loss record; a lackluster lineup (Eugenio Velez anyone?); and one overpaid left-hander who appears to have lost the ability to pitch.

But help is on the way, in the person of (wait for it, wait for it) Bill Neukom! That’s right. The former Microsoft general counsel, current ABA president and current K&L Gates partner was recently named the team’s managing general partner. We’re not sure what a managing general partner does, necessarily (and neither do some Giants die-hards, according to this fan blog), but according to this nice piece from Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, it sounds like he’ll likely have a big desk and be making some big decisions for the team.

So how does a guy who a decade ago was doing battle with the trust-busters of the U.S. government become a muckety-muck with the San Francisco Giants? It helps to be, well, wealthy. Neukom, who stepped down from Microsoft in 2001, shortly thereafter took some of his $107 million chunk in Microsoft and invested it in the Giants, which made him a part-owner. (Neukom, who grew up in San Mateo, Calif., has been a fan of the team since childhood.)

“He’s very passionate about baseball and his hometown Giants,” said Chuck Armstrong, the president of the Seattle Mariners, to the Chron. “This will be good for the Giants and the Bay Area. He’s an outgoing, friendly guy, a quick study and a good listener.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 20, 2008 (boomark / email).