RIP, Frank Ruano
I never heard of the guy, either, but a reader sent me the obit, and he sounds like my kind of baseball fan:
For more than 30 years, the outspoken Ruano and his cohorts led resistance to public financing of King County sports stadiums, including the now-demolished Kingdome and the Mariners' ballpark that replaced it.
Two of his lawsuits went before the state Supreme Court. And although Ruano never stopped any stadium projects, he is credited with forcing local governments to take timeouts and answer tough questions about them.
A small victory, sure, but a noble one. Though it did come at a price:
Ruano made enough of an impression to merit spying by Seattle's police intelligence unit, according to records exposed to public scrutiny in 1975.