Brewers Make Historic Hire in Shake-Up

The Milwaukee Brewers, nearing the completion of their worst season in the 34-year history of the franchise, replaced team President Wendy Selig-Prieb and General Manager Dean Taylor Wednesday.

Ulice Payne, a managing partner in the law firm Foley & Lardner, takes over as team president, becoming the first black president of a major league team. Former Texas general manager Doug Melvin replaces Taylor.

Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer and the longtime lawyer for Commissioner Bud Selig, also is a partner at Foley & Lardner.

Payne said he took the job to help the team and the city.

While he says he doesn’t have all the answers on how to fix the team’s problems, “I’m going to take this challenge quite seriously,” he said.

Payne, a former Marquette University basketball star, has no baseball experience but is the chairman of the Bradley Center Board and brings a background in business and politics.

He said he was involved in the selection of Melvin.

“I have tremendous confidence in Doug,” he said.

Selig-Prieb, Selig’s daughter, remains with the team in a newly created post as board chairman, but Payne will make day-to-day decisions.

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Third baseman Scott Rolen, headed to postseason play for the first time in his career, and the St. Louis Cardinals are close to finalizing a $90-million, eight-year contact, sources told Associated Press. Acquired from Philadelphia in a trade July 29, Rolen was eligible for free agency after the season.

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Atlanta businessman Charles Vaughn is leading a group of investors that are interested in purchasing the Montreal Expos and moving the team to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2004.

Baseball spokesman Rich Levin acknowledged receiving a letter from Vaughn and said it is being evaluated along with similar letters of interest in the Expos.

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Ted Williams’ eldest daughter might be forced to give up her fight to remove the Hall of Famer’s body from an Arizona cryonics lab because she is struggling to pay her legal bills.

Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell has spent about $50,000 in the last 16 weeks to fight her siblings’ claim that their father wanted to be frozen and not cremated, her lawyer, John Heer, said.