Trump Tower by Jeffrey Robinson Read Free Book Online Page A

like Mark McCormack, in realizing the marketing potential of athletes. Unlike McCormack, however, whose commercial success, beginning in the 1960s with golfer Jack Nicklaus,really paved the way for the Federers, Beckhams and Woods of the modern era, Shields left the already-established pros to McCormack and waded into the amateur pools, looking for future stars.
    He crisscrossed the country, sitting through thousands of high school and college basketball games, and football games, and baseball games, and track meets, and lacrosse practice, and inner-city gyms, and inner-city basketball courts, and even Saturday morning suburban soccer games in search of the next Tom Seaver, Edwin Moses, Joe Namath, Walt Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard.
    After two years of nonstop traveling, he’d discovered—and locked into iron-clad contracts—budding superstars like the Lakers’ point guard Le-Vaughan Sylvester, Dodgers reliever Jovani San Pedro Santiago, Miami Dolphins all-pro receiver Longman Watt, Yankee second baseman Devontae “Crawfish” Perkins and world welterweight champion Filiberto “Kid” Cabrera.
    Over the next ten years, any athlete not on McCormack’s roster belonged—lock, stock and barrel—to Gerald Shields.
    But by the time Tom Cruise came along as Jerry McGuire, and Cuba Gooding Jr. screamed, “Show me the money,” sports agents were running all over the country, in colleges and high schools and drilling down deep into junior highs in search of the next big name.
    Suddenly there was Don Meehan and Drew Rosenhaus, Tom Condon and Arn Tellem, and of course Scott Boras. And they were into everything, not just working the three big ball sports, and golf, tennis, boxing and ice hockey, but motor racing, horse racing, wrestling, soccer, lacrosse, rugby, track, field, gymnastics, even cricket and bowling.
    Wherever there were athletes who could sell something, there were agents trying to sell athletes.
    Gerald Shields sold out to the Truman brothers—Alan and Adam—two lawyers from the Cincinnati suburbs, but the cutthroat nature of the business became too much for them. They had a few big stars, but mostly they had young athletes whose careers were stalled.
    Now Zeke Gimbel wanted to enter the fray.
    â€œAs soon as they sign,” Zeke explained, “we hand the keys to the door to Perry and Monica.” They were two young hotshot lawyers who worked for Z in LA. “We move them into new offices and keep them ring-fenced so that nothing that happens there can affect anything else. If that goes wrong, I don’t want it bringing us down. If our deal goes wrong, the sports side may be all we have left.”
    â€œCompared to you,” Bobby said, “Hattie is an optimist.”
    â€œMurphy’s Law?” He looked at his old friend. “And it was Murphy who was the optimist.”
    â€œI still have doubts about the deadwood.”
    â€œWhy?
    â€œBecause you think you can trade your way into a profitable business. Why would some other agency want the athletes you can’t sell?”
    â€œThey’re jocks, they get traded all the time. What’s the difference if they go from Z to IMG, or from the Padres to the Cubs? Why do the Bears buy someone the Cowboys don’t want?”
    â€œMr. Gimbel?” Giorgio, the resident manager, stepped outside. “You look well.”
    â€œHi there. You too.” He shook Giorgio’s hand. “I got in last night . . . leaving today, right now, in fact.”
    â€œBack to Los Angeles?”
    â€œNo. New York for a party. LA tomorrow.”
    â€œMr. Lerner?” Giorgio said, “Everything is arranged.”
    â€œI’ll just go upstairs and grab my bag,” Zeke said. Then he asked Bobby, “What’s arranged?”
    Giorgio held up his hand to show Zeke there was no need to go upstairs. “I’ll have it brought down. And your car . . . to