Joan Kroc Calls a Halt to Padre Shake-Up : She Orders Ozzie Virgil Rehired, Attempts to Retain Dick Williams

SAN DIEGO —  Angry that her employees had made important personnel decisions without her approval, owner Joan Kroc of the San Diego Padres moved on her own Tuesday, attempting to rehire recently fired coach Ozzie Virgil, and vowing that Dick Williams would not be forced out as Padre manager.

Meanwhile, sources say Williams decided last month to quit as manager with one year remaining on his $200,000 Padre contract, after the Padres had offered him a money settlement. That’s a reason why Virgil, a close friend of Williams’, was fired. But Padre officials didn’t make a formal announcement of Williams’ decision to quit, apparently waiting to discuss it with Kroc. Before they could, though, news of Virgil’s firing and the proposed settlement was in the newspapers.

So when Kroc read about it for the first time in Tuesday’s papers, she was livid. She was irked enough that other sources, who requested anonymity, quoted her as saying, “Heads could roll in the front office.” And, apparently, she was including her son-in-law, Ballard Smith, who is team president.

Smith declined comment Tuesday night. Thus, there still is no clear explanation as to why the Padres delayed in telling Kroc the about Williams.

And still unknown is Williams’ status with the team. If he accepted the buy-out before, will he now return since Kroc is on his side? Or will he tell Kroc in a meeting scheduled for this Friday that he still doesn’t wish to return?

Williams, reached on the telephone Tuesday at Milwaukee where he’s attending a Lite Beer “seminar,” declined comment. Kroc returned only one telephone message Tuesday, to an Associated Press reporter in the morning, and said: “I’m very upset about it. I wish I knew more about it. I never heard an unkind word about Ozzie. I need to talk to Ballard.

“When it comes to the big decisions, no one is going to make them but me. . . . I’m terribly involved with Dick Williams. It would be a great mistake to let him go or pay him off or to make life so miserable for him that he would walk away.”

Of the reported settlement, she said: “That will never happen. They’ll have to use their own money because I’m not using mine.”

Later Tuesday night, a spokesman for Kroc said:

“She’d like me to tell you she wants Dick Williams to return. She has confidence in him. She expects to meet with him Friday at the Padre offices, and she’d expect that Ballard would want to be there. Five months ago, she told the Padres she didn’t believe in buy-outs. . . . And she remembers calling Dick Williams in September and giving him a vote of confidence. She wanted to make sure he knew he was aces in her book.

“The bottom line is that there will not be a buy-out, and besides, she cares about his good name. . . . Truthfully, she wonders why all the fuss over this. . . . She’s more interested in world peace.”

She had anything but a peaceful Tuesday. Kroc’s day went like this:

Sources said she called the Williams’ household first thing in the morning and talked with Williams’ wife, Norma. Norma told Kroc what she knew of the situation and then put Dick in contact with Kroc. Kroc, once on the phone with Williams in Milwaukee, said she wanted him back as manager, whereupon Williams said: “Only if Ozzie comes back.”

Kroc agreed. She contacted Padre General Manager Jack McKeon, who originally had decided not to renew Virgil’s contract, and ordered Virgil to be rehired. McKeon called Virgil’s wife, Stella, in the Phoenix area, and asked if she’d contact Virgil in Venezuela, where he is managing. Virgil, reached in Venezuela, told Stella: “I’m not talking to Jack.”

Sources said Kroc then called Phoenix, and Virgil, contacted again by his wife, agreed to speak with Kroc. Kroc asked that Virgil come back to the team, but he told her that he had verbally agreed to coach third base for the San Francisco Giants.

Kroc then asked McKeon to get Virgil back. McKeon, contacted on Tuesday, would not comment on his ensuing conversations, but Giant President Al Rosen said: “One of our partners (the Padres) asked us to back away and we did. You do that for friends. . . . I was told Ozzie preferred it that way, and I believe the person who told me. . . . It was a normal kind of request as far as I’m concerned and certainly something I’d expect someone to do for me.”

McKeon was the one who decided not to rehire Virgil, and he never told Kroc. McKeon declined comment Tuesday.

And Smith, all along, has given Williams votes of confidence, but it was confirmed Tuesday that Smith did actually give Williams the option of quitting with a settlement.

Somebody just didn’t tell all this to Kroc, the owner.