BizJournals Portfolio

Bases Loaded

Some of the other big ownership groups in the minor leagues.

Switch Hitter Switch Hitter

Ousted Sony C.E.O. Peter Guber plays hardball in the minor leagues. Read More

Dave Elmore

Elmore Sports Group

West Valley City, Utah

Elmore, a Chicago lawyer who made money investing in real estate, bought his first team—the Hawaii Islanders, now the Class AAA Colorado Sky Sox—in 1981. He now owns five teams.

Marv Goldklang

The Goldklang Group

Florham, New Jersey

A New Jersey-based lawyer and merchant banker, Goldklang started buying minor-league teams in 1989. Today, his group owns or operates six clubs.

Bill Shea

Ivy Walls Management

Lexington, Kentucky

Shea, who made his money in oil pipelines, is also the founder of Ivy Walls. The group owns two teams, including Kentucky’s Class A Lexington Legends, which it bought (along with the Legends’ stadium) for $24 million in 2005.

Cal Ripken Jr.

Ripken Baseball

Baltimore

Former Orioles short- stop Ripken and his brother bought the Utica Blue Sox for around $3 million in 2002

and moved the team to his hometown of Aberdeen,

Maryland. More recently, they added Georgia’s Augusta GreenJackets.

Nolan Ryan

Ryan-Sanders baseball

Round Rock, Texas

Founded by star pitcher Ryan, his son Reid, and his partner, Don Sanders, the group has more than 60

minority shareholders, many of them former pro ball­players. The group owns two Texas teams.


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