Scott Podsednik

The name Podsednik indicates he may have Czech (Bohemian) ancestry. In 1977, he wrote his autobiography, "Grinding It Out". He previously played for the Seattle Mariners (2001-02) and Milwaukee Brewers (2003-04), and led the major leagues in stolen bases in 2004 with 70. In the early 1970s, Kroc became owner of the San Diego Padres and one time got on the stadium public address system to crticize the team during a poor performance. Scott Eric Podsednik (born March 18, 1976 in West, Texas) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Chicago White Sox. Kroc's first restaurant was inaccurately claimed to be "McDonald's #1" (it was actually the 9th McDonald's restaurant), and the company dated its founding to 1955, not 1940. Under Kroc, McDonald's promulgated a version of its history that emphasized Kroc as "McDonald's founder," barely mentioning the role the McDonald brothers played.

Their relationship was not harmonious, and Kroc denied them the rights to the McDonald's name for their first restaurant, opening a new McDonald's nearby to force them out of business. In 1961, Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for US $2.7 million. Kroc's enthusiasm for the company was strong, and in his first year with McDonald's he unsuccessfully attempted to convince Walt Disney, a fellow WWI ambulance driver with whom he had been acquainted, to let him open a restaurant in the forthcoming Disneyland. He encouraged the brothers to put him in charge of franchising, and founded McDonald's Corporation (originally "McDonald's Systems, Inc.") with the opening of his first franchise.

Although the McDonald brothers had themselves invented the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, establishing the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant, and had begun franchising their restaurants before they met Kroc, it was he who recognized the enormous potential their restaurant had. Immediately realizing the potential of the brothers' business, which they had already begun to franchise, Kroc went into business with them and acquired franchising rights to open a McDonald's restaurant of his own, in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. He found out two brothers, Dick and Maurice "Mac" McDonald, were using eight of his machines at their innovative San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant. An ambulance driver in the First World War, Kroc had tried his hand at a number of trades by the early 1950s, when he was a Multimixer milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country peddling his wares.

Kroc. Kroc was of Czech ancestry and was survived by his third wife, Joan B. Dubbed the Hamburger King, Kroc was included in the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential builders and titans of industry and amassed a $500 million fortune during his lifetime. Ray Arthur Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was founder of the McDonald's Corporation in 1955, although not of the restaurant chain itself, which was started by Dick and Mac McDonald in 1940.

([1]). First Sentence of his book "Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's": I HAVE ALWAYS believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems.