Former MLB Agent Claims Jerry Reinsdorf Joked About “Shooting Players” At Winter Meetings
A former MLB agent is now speaking publicly about an interaction he had with Jerry Reinsdorf at the winter meetings and to nobody’s surprise it doesn’t paint the White Sox owner in a good light.
In a video posted on social media, now-retired MLB agent Joshua Kusnick says while he was at the 2022 Winter Meeting a few people he knew brought him over to see Jerry Reinsdorf. Kusnick has a had handful of MLB clients over his 20 years as an agent, including former All-Stars Lorenzo Cain and Kenley Jansen. He admits during the video that he despises Reinsdorf saying: “I got nothing good to say about him. I don’t like him. I don’t like anything he does. He’s bad for the game.”
As he reluctantly walked over to Reinsdorf he found himself trapped in a conversation, with manager Pedro Grifol, “one of Reinsdorf’s lieutenants” and a representative from the MLB. During the conversation, Kusnick claimed that Reinsdorf brought up the story of Eddie Gaedel, the shortest player to ever appear in a major league baseball game.
Gaedel was just 3 feet 7 inches tall and was signed by St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck in a publicity stunt. He appeared in the second game of a doubleheader on August 19, 1951. During his lone plate appearance, he walked on four pitches before being replaced by a pinch runner. His uniform number “⅛” is on display at the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
According to Kusnick, Reinsdorf went on to say his favorite part of the story is that Veeck heard a rumor that Gaedel was thinking of taking a swing at one of the pitches because he had nothing to lose. When Veeck found out he allegedly went to the locker room and confronted Gaedel about the rumor. Despite Gadel telling him that it wasn’t true Veeck told him that he had U.S Marines stationed across the roof of the stadium. Resindorf continued to say that Veeck warned Gadel that if he took the bat off his shoulders he would shoot him.
Kusnick said the conversation at the winter meetings suddenly fell silent before Reinsorf without missing a beat said, “I miss the time when owners could threaten to shoot players.” The story has yet to be confirmed by Grifol or anyone with the White Sox and likely never will be. But given how he operates it would be unsurprising if that is how he thinks.