The cost of doing business

Major League Baseball 31 years ago today approves the sale of the Harrisburg Senators for $4.1 million from Jerry Mileur to four investors from suburban Philadelphia – a group led by Reading Phillies owner Craig Stein.

Within hours, reports begin to circulate from the Lehigh Valley that officials there are trying to lure the Senators to move into a proposed $10 million stadium near Easton, Pa.

What follows is a year-long taffy pull between Stein’s group and the city of Harrisburg, which eventually buys the Class AA franchise for a then-record $6.9 million to keep it from relocating to Springfield, Mass.

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