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JEFF HARRINGTONDavid Hersh, once the youngest owner in minor league baseball, wants toassemble a half dozen teams.
TAMPA - David Hersh is adding another minor-league baseball team to what the Tampa investor hopes will become a national chain of ball clubs.
An investment group headed by Hersh this week signed a letter of intent to buy the Lexington Legends, a Class A baseball team in Kentucky. The deal, which involves a record sales price for a Class A team, comes as Hersh's Fun Entertainment Group LLC finalizes the buyout of the Triple-A Tacoma (Wash.) Rainiers, farm team for the Seattle Mariners.
The Lexington team, an affiliate of the Houston Astros, "has been a franchise that has performed at the top of the industry since its inception," Hersh told the St. Petersburg Times on Friday. "As great as its success has been, I think it can grow greater."
Hersh wouldn't disclose the sales price but said it is more than what is thought to be the most expensive Class A sale: the 2001 buyout of the Delmarva (Md.) Shorebirds for $7-million. Hersh also indicated his group is paying Triple-A prices for the club, and that would mean a price tag of more than $10-million.
Hersh, a well-known investor in Minor League Baseball, received his first dose of national publicity in 1979 when he bought the Portland (Ore.) Beavers. He was 22 at the time, making him the youngest pro baseball team owner in the country.
The Lexington sale is not expected to close until after the 2004 season. Hersh, who moved to Tampa 15 months ago, said another acquisition could be announced within a month.
Fun Entertainment, which will own two teams when the Lexintgon deal closes, eventually wants to buy a half-dozen minor league teams, giving it greater clout to negotiate entertainment acts to perform at the various ballparks.
- Jeff Harrington can be reached at harrington@sptimes.com or 813226-3407.