Bases Loaded
Aug 13 2008
Switch Hitter
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.
