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Wizards Owners, Hardball Capital Adds to Roster

March 20th, 2008 | Author: Chad Gramling

From the Atlanta Business Chronical: — Atlanta-based Hardball Capital has added to its holdings of minor league baseball teams with the purchase of the Savannah Sand Gnats of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Hardball Capital, whose principals are Barry Real Estate Companies Inc. CEO Chris Schoen and former Bondurant, Mixson and Elmore LLP attorney Jason Freier, also owns the Fort Wayne Wizards of the Midwest League.

Hardball previously owned the Class A team in Salem, Va., but sold it earlier this year to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox were in need of a Class A team on the East Coast and Freier and Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino worked together at the Washington, D.C., office of Williams and Connolly LLP.

“We love Savannah,” Freier said of the market, adding that he was excited to own a team in Georgia, just a few hours away.

Hardball will have local partners in the sale, but they were not announced at Thursday’s 1 p.m. news conference in Savannah. The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which governs minor league baseball, must complete its vetting process before the local partners can be announced.

The Sand Gnats play in Grayson Stadium, which was built in 1927 and is the oldest operating stadium in affiliated baseball in the country. Hardball is building a $125 million mixed-use stadium in Fort Wayne, but has no plans as of yet to do so in Savannah.

The Sand Gnats are an affiliate of the New York Mets.

[tags]Hardball Capital, Minor League Baseball[/tags]

Posted in Local Ties, Wizards

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