MLB lockout: Take a look at baseball's billionaire team owners

1

MLB players you know: their names, their faces, their salaries, their portrayal by the league’s owners — and a fair number of fans during labor disputes and work stoppages — as a collection of ingrate millionaires. The owners, in all likelihood, you are less familiar with beyond their collective billionaire status.

Indeed, roughly three-quarters of the game’s primary owners have net worths north of 10 figures, including two with net worths north of 11 figures, and all but two of them have seen their franchise values appreciate since their purchases, often extraordinarily.

Below is a list of the men who locked out the players on Dec. 2 and have brought baseball to the brink of canceling regular-season games in 2022 with their hardline tactics in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Baltimore Orioles

Chairman of the board/CEO: Peter G. Angelos

Net worth: $2 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $173 million (1993)

Current franchise valuation: $1.4 billion

Value appreciation: 710%

Annualized appreciation: 7.5%

How he made his billions: As one of Maryland’s most prominent attorneys, Angelos, 92, won billions of dollars in judgments against the tobacco industry and for plaintiffs in asbestos exposure lawsuits.

Fast facts: His reputation as a controlling and impatient meddler who burns through front-office executives and signs too many over-the-hill stars (Albert Belle, Sammy Sosa) earned Angelos the title of “worst owner in baseball” by Sports Illustrated in 2009. But Angelos scored points with the union for refusing to field a team of replacement players during the 1994-95 strike.

2

Boston Red Sox

Principal owner: John W. Henry

Net worth: $2.6 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $380 million (2002)

Current franchise valuation: $3.4 billion

Value appreciation: 796%

Annualized appreciation: 11.6%

How he made his billions: Henry, 72, started trading corn and soybean futures in his early 20s. He founded the John W. Henry & Company in a small office across the street from the Orange County Airport in 1981 and soon began marketing his management strategies to the largest commodity brokerage firms in the U.S.

Fast facts: In 2001, Henry and co-owner Tom Werner formed the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Liverpool Football Club and 80% of the New England Sports Network. Henry also owns The Boston Globe.

3

Chicago White Sox

Chairman: Jerry Reinsdorf

Net worth: $1.5 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $20 million (1981)

Current franchise valuation: $1.69 billion

Value appreciation: 8,375%

Annualized appreciation: 11.4%

How he made his billions: Reinsdorf, 86, developed a specialty in real estate partnership tax shelters and in 1973 formed the Balcor Company, which he sold to American Express for $102 million in 1982. He made a second fortune as part of an investment group that bought the Chicago Bulls for $16 million in 1985. The NBA team, which won six titles with Michael Jordan, is now valued at $3.2 billion.

Fast fact: Known as one of baseball’s anti-union hard-liners, Reinsdorf was a driving force behind the revenue sharing of internet rights from MLB Advanced Media, which was established in 2000. Growing up in the shadows of Ebbets Field, Reinsdorf was in the stands the day Jackie Robinson made his debut in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color barrier.

4

Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland Indians president and controlling owner Paul Dolan speaks to reporters.

Principal owner: Lawrence J. Dolan

Controlling owner: Paul J. Dolan

Net worth: $4.6 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $323 million (2000)

Current franchise valuation: $1.16 billion

Value appreciation: 258%

Annualized appreciation: 6.0%

How they made their billions: Family patriarch Charles Dolan, the brother of Larry Dolan and the uncle of Paul Dolan, was a cable television pioneer who launched Cablevision on Long Island in 1973 and sold the company to Altice for $17.7 billion in 2016.

Fast fact: The Guardians (formerly Indians) have been a picture of stability under the Dolans, with four primary managers (Charlie Manuel, Eric Wedge, Manny Acta and Terry Francona) and three general managers (Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff) in 20 years.

5

Detroit Tigers

Owner: Ilitch Holdings, Inc.

Net worth: $3.8 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $82 million (1992)

Current franchise valuation: $1.26 billion

Value appreciation: 1,428%

Annualized appreciation: 9.5%

How they made their billions: Mike and Marian Ilitch founded the Little Caesar’s Pizza chain in 1959. Mike Ilitch died in 2017, but his wife still owns the chain, which generates more than $4 billion in annual sales. The family also owns the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

Fast fact: Christopher Ilitch, 56, the youngest son of Mike and Marian and one of the couple’s seven children, took over as owner of the Tigers and Red Wings after Mike died. The Tigers enjoyed success from 2006 to 2014, with five playoff appearances and two World Series losses, but have lost 234 games the past three seasons.

6

Houston Astros

Owner and chairman: Jim Crane

Net worth: $1.3 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $465 million (2011)

Current franchise valuation: $1.87 billion

Value appreciation: 303%

Annualized appreciation: 13.5%

How he made his billions: Crane, 68, founded Eagle Global Logistics, an air-freight transportation and distribution business, in 1984, and he is now the CEO and chairman of the Crane Capital Group, an investment management company.

Fast facts: Under Crane, the Astros went from three straight 100-loss seasons from 2011-2013 to three straight 100-win seasons from 2017-2019. They won the 2017 World Series over the Dodgers and the 2019 AL pennant. But Crane was heavily criticized in February 2020 for his tone-deaf comments in the wake of Houston’s cheating scandal, when he said stealing signs “didn’t impact the game.”

7

Kansas City Royals

Chairman and CEO: John Sherman

Net worth: $1.25 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $1 billion (2019)

Current franchise valuation: $1.06 billion

Value appreciation: 6%

Annualized appreciation: 2.0%

How he made his billions: Sherman, 66, is the founder and CEO of Inergy, L.P. and Inergy Midstream, which in 2013 merged with Crestwood Holdings to create one of North America’s largest energy companies, currently estimated to be worth nearly $9 billion.

Fast facts: Sherman was a Cleveland minority owner for three years before purchasing the Royals from David Glass. His ownership group includes 22 individuals and companies with ties to the Kansas City area. That is not surprising. A 40-year Kansas City resident, Sherman has been one of the city’s most influential leaders, businessmen and philanthropists for decades.

8

Los Angeles Angels

Owner: Arte Moreno

Net worth: $3.3 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $183.5 million (2003)

Current franchise valuation: $2.03 billion

Value appreciation: 1,008%

Annualized appreciation: 13.5%

How he made his billions: The oldest of 11 children raised in Tucson, Ariz., and a Vietnam veteran, Moreno, 75, made his early money through billboard advertising. He sold his company, Outdoor Systems, to Infinity Broadcasting for $8.7 billion in 1999 and was a minority owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks before purchasing the Angels.

Fast facts: Moreno endeared himself to fans by lowering beer prices and spending lavishly to sign and retain premium players such as Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout, but his move to change the team’s name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels outraged city officials, alienated some Orange County fans and led to a lengthy and costly lawsuit — which he won.

9

Minnesota Twins

Executive chair: Jim Pohlad

Net worth: $3.8 billion (Pohlad family; 2020)

Purchase price: $44 million (1984)

Current franchise valuation: $1.33 billion

Value appreciation: 2,901%

Annualized appreciation: 9.4%

How he made his billions: Jim Pohlad, 69, took over as the team’s chief executive after his father, Carl Pohlad, died at age 93 in 2009. Jim and his two brothers, Bill and Bob, own and manage a group of more than 30 diversified Minneapolis-based businesses they inherited from their father, a self-made billionaire who launched a banking and financial services firm in the 1950s.

Fast facts: Pohlad, who studied accounting at USC and is a CPA, is the public face of the franchise, an owner who is accessible to fans and the media and often interacts with both. But he has taken a hands-off approach to the team, trusting his front office to make baseball decisions.

10

New York Yankees

Managing general partner: Hal Steinbrenner

Net worth: $3.8 billion (Steinbrenner family; 2020)

Purchase price: $8.8 million (1973)

Current franchise valuation: $5.25 billion

Value appreciation: 59,813%

Annualized appreciation: 13.9%

How he made his billions: Steinbrenner, 52, and his brother, Hank, who died in 2020, inherited the team from their father, George Steinbrenner, the controversial, outspoken former Yankees owner who, in the early 1960s purchased the family’s shipbuilding company that grossed more than $100 million annually in sales. George Steinbrenner died in 2010.

Fast fact: A wallflower compared to his bombastic father, Hal Steinbrenner has remained largely out of the public eye, preferring to let Yankees President Randy Levine and GM Brian Cashman speak for the team. “I’m not trying to be George,” Hal told ESPN in 2016. “I never walked into this with the concept of trying to act like George, trying to be everything that George was, because I can’t. Nobody can.”

11

Oakland Athletics

Managing partner: John Fisher

Net worth: $2.2 billion (2020)

Purchased price: $180 million (2005)

Current franchise valuation: $1.13 billion

Value appreciation: 529%

Annualized appreciation: 11.4%

How he made his billions: Fisher, 60, is the son of Donald and Doris Fisher, who founded the retail clothing giant Gap Inc. in 1969. John sold 650,000 shares of Gap stock valued at $19.7 million in 2017 and still owns more than 2 million shares of company stock, valued at more than $70 million. He also co-founded an investment firm, Sansome Partners.

Fast fact: Fisher, who graduated from Princeton and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford, is also a part-owner of two soccer teams, the MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes and Scotland’s Celtic FC. His most pressing challenge is to broker a deal for a new stadium to replace the decrepit Oakland Coliseum and keep the small-market A’s in Oakland.

12

Seattle Mariners

Chairman and managing partner: John Stanton

Net worth: $1.1 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $1.2 billion (2016)

Current franchise valuation: $1.63 billion

Value appreciation: 35.7%

Annualized appreciation: 5.2%

How he made his billions: Stanton, 66, served as the head of several wireless companies in the 1980s and is now the chairman of Trilogy International Partners, a Bellevue, Wash.-based private equity firm that specializes in early-state wireless investments and owns and operates wireless telecommunications companies in New Zealand and Bolivia.

Fast facts: Amid mounting losses on the field and declining attendance, Stanton admitted 2019 was a “step-back year” for the perennially rebuilding Mariners, who went 68-94 and haven’t reached the playoffs since 2001. “I worry about the fans in the ballpark and about the fans that are watching us on TV,” Stanton told the Seattle Times. “I want to deliver a quality product to them every game.”

13

Tampa Bay Rays

Principal owner: Stuart Sternberg

Net worth: $800 million (2020)

Purchase price: $200 million (2004)

Current franchise valuation: $1.06 billion

Value appreciation: 428%

Annualized appreciation: 9.7%

How he made his millions: Sternberg, 63, began his Wall Street career trading equity options part-time at the American Stock Exchange while attending St. John’s University in New York. He was hired by the investment group Spear, Leeds & Kellogg before moving to Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner for the company before retiring in 2002.

Fast fact: The low-budget Rays have baseball’s fifth-best record (1,041-904) and made five trips to the playoffs in the last 12 years after going a major league-worst 645-972 in their first decade. But Sternberg has been so frustrated with efforts to build a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area that he’s had discussions with Wall Street associates about moving the team to Montreal.

14

Texas Rangers

Co-chairmen: Ray C. Davis, Bob R. Simpson

Net worth: $2 billion (Davis; 2020)

Purchase price: $593 million (2010)

Current franchise valuation: $1.79 billion

Value appreciation: 202%

Annualized appreciation: 9.6%

How they made their billions: Davis, 79, founded Energy Transfer, a pipeline company and natural gas distributor, in 1995. The company finished work on the controversial 1,172-mile, $3.8-billion Dakota Access Pipeline in 2017. Simpson, 62, co-founded the Cross Timbers Oil Company in 1985. The company changed its name to XTO Energy in 2001 and was sold to ExxonMobil for $41 billion in 2010.

Fast facts: Dubbed the “Undercover Billionaire” by D Magazine, Davis is such a recluse that he declined to comment on his purchase of the Rangers, telling reporters he doesn’t grant interviews. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in 2018 that “Simpson’s involvement with the club is all but non-existent” and that his relationship with Davis “is equally minimal.”

15

Toronto Blue Jays

Chairman: Edward S. Rogers III

Net worth: $11.5 billion (CAD; Rogers family; 2020)

Purchase price: $165 million (2000)

Current franchise valuation: $1.68 billion

Value appreciation: 913%

Annualized appreciation: 11.1%

How he made his billions: Rogers, 52, is chairman of Rogers Communications Inc. and Rogers Bank and director of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. He focused much of his early career with Rogers on innovation — in 1997 he launched wireless data at Rogers Wireless and helped launch the Blackberry.

Fast facts: Rogers’ father, Edward S. Rogers Jr., was a pioneer in the Canadian communications industry who established Rogers Communications in 1967 and was the fifth-richest person in Canada by net worth when he died in 2009. Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro runs the day-to-day operations of the team.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

16

Arizona Diamondbacks

Managing general partner: Ken Kendrick

Net worth: $600 million (estimate; 2020)

Purchase price: $238 million (2004)

Current franchise valuation: $1.32 billion

Value Appreciation: 603%

Annualized appreciation: 11.5%

How he made his millions: Kendrick, 78, founded Datatel Inc., a company that specializes in information processing and software products for higher education. He leads a three-man ownership group that includes Jeffrey Royer and Michael Chipman, all of whom have owned at least a portion of the club since its inception in 1998.

Fast facts: Kendrick owns more than 10,000 baseball cards, including the most expensive baseball card in history, the T206 Honus Wagner, which he purchased for $2.8 million in 2016. Under his leadership, the team has eliminated more than $200 million of debt through equity and debt restructures.

17

Atlanta Braves

John C. Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Group

Owner: Liberty Media Corporation (John C. Malone)

Net worth: $6.6 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $450 million (2007)

Current franchise valuation: $1.88 billion

Value appreciation: 318%

Annualized appreciation: 10%

How he made his billions: Malone, 80, served as president and CEO of cable and media giant Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) for 24 years before becoming chairman of the Liberty Media Group in 1996.

Fast facts: Malone is the largest landowner in the U.S., with some 2.1 million acres of properties.

18

Chicago Cubs

Chairman: Thomas S. Ricketts

Net worth: $1.8 billion (Ricketts family; 2020)

Purchase price: $700 million (2009)

Current franchise valuation: $3.4 billion

Value Appreciation: 386%

Annualized appreciation: 12.9%

How they made their billions: Ricketts, 55, is the son of Joe Ricketts, an early online stock-trading pioneer and founder of the brokerage firm Ameritrade, which went public in 1997 and spent $2.9 billion to buy TD Waterhouse 2006. Ricketts is also the chairman, co-founder and former CEO of Incapital LLC, an investment firm.

Fast facts: Ricketts shares club ownership with three siblings — Todd Ricketts, the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee who is spearheading fundraising for President Donald Trump’s reelection, Peter Ricketts, the current Republican governor of Nebraska, and Laura Ricketts, a former corporate lawyer and Joe Biden supporter and activist for the rights of gay and transgender people.

19

Cincinnati Reds

CEO: Robert H. Castellini

Net worth: $400 million (2020)

Purchase price: $270 million (2006)

Current franchise valuation: $1.08 billion

Value appreciation: 300%

Annualized appreciation: 9.1%

How he made his millions: Castellini, 80, inherited his family’s fruit and vegetable wholesale company that was founded by his grandfather, Joseph John Castellini, one of the earliest players in the produce industry in the 1890s.

Fast facts: A former minority owner of the Rangers and Orioles, Castellini said at an introductory news conference in 2006 that he was “buying the Reds to win. Anything else is unacceptable.” The Reds won division titles in 2010 and 2012 and have finished third in the NL Central the last two seasons.

20

Colorado Rockies

Owner/chairman and CEO: Richard L. Monfort

Net worth: $700 million (2020)

Purchase price: $190 million (1993 expansion fee)

Current franchise valuation: $1.3 billion

Value appreciation: 585%

Annualized appreciation: 6.9%

How he made his millions: Monfort, 67, is the son of Kenneth Monfort, who owned a meatpacking and distributing company that was sold to ConAgra Foods for $365.5 million in 1987. Richard worked for his father as a cattle buyer from 1974-84 and was an executive vice president of the company from 1984-87 before becoming president of ConAgra Red Meats.

Fast facts: Monfort and his younger brother, Charles, were part of the Rockies’ original ownership group in 1993. They took over as primary owners in 2005 when they purchased Jerry McMorris’ financial interest in the club.

21

Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodgers owner Mark Walter speaks at a gala.

Chairman: Mark Walter

Net worth: $3.4 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $2.15 billion (2012)

Team valued at: $3.6 billion

Value appreciation: 67%

Annualized appreciation: 5.3%

How he made his billions: Walter, 62, is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $290 billion in assets under management that paid a record price to purchase the Dodgers from Frank McCourt.

Fast facts: Guggenheim agreed to a record 25-year, $8.35-billion TV deal with Time Warner Cable in 2013, but because DirecTV and other local providers refused to carry SportsNet LA, the Dodgers, winners of seven straight division titles, reached less than half of the Southern California market. A seven-year stalemate ended in April 2020 when Spectrum agreed to carry SportsNet LA on AT&T video platforms, just in time for a season delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

22

Miami Marlins

Chairman and principal owner: Bruce Sherman

Net worth: $500 million (2020)

Purchase price: $1.2 billion (2017)

Current franchise valuation: $990 million

Value appreciation: -17.5%

Annualized appreciation: -3.8%

How he made his millions: Sherman, 73, co-founded the wealth-management firm Private Capital Management (PCM) in 1985. The firm grew to $4.4 billion in assets under management in 1999 and was sold to Legg Mason for $1.4 billion in 2001. Sherman remained at the helm of the firm, whose assets grew to around $30 billion by 2005 before losing $2.4 billion in the 2008 financial collapse.

Fast facts: Sherman helped finance Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter’s purchase of the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria. While Sherman is the controlling owner of the team, Jeter was the club’s CEO and ran day-to-day operation of the Marlins before parting ways with the team Feb. 28. The Marlins have not had a winning season since 2009 and have finished last in the NL East in five of the last 10 years.

23

Milwaukee Brewers

Chairman and principal owner: Mark Attanasio

Net worth: $700 million (2020)

Purchase price: $223 million (2005)

Current franchise valuation: $1.2 billion

Value appreciation: 436%

Annualized appreciation: 10.4%

How he made his millions: In 1991 Attanasio, 64, co-founded the Los Angeles investment firm Crescent Capital Group, which now controls more than $26 billion in assets.

Fast facts: The small-market Brewers, according to Attanasio, operated at a financial loss in 2019, but that didn’t prevent them from signing outfielder Christian Yelich, the 2018 NL most valuable player and 2019 MVP runner-up, to a seven-year, $188.5-million extension in March. The team also signed pricey free agents such as Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal in recent years.

24

New York Mets

Chairman and CEO: Steven A. Cohen

Net worth: $16 billion (2021)

Purchase price: $2.4 billion (2020)

Current franchise valuation: $2.5 billion

Value appreciation: 4.2%

Annualized appreciation: 4.2%

How he made his millions: Cohen, 65, is the founder, CEO and president of the Stamford, Conn.-based hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, a venture capital fund that makes early-stage investments, and S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a hedge fund conglomerate that went defunct in 2013 after Cohen pleaded guilty to insider trading charges. He is the wealthiest individual majority owner in baseball.

Fast facts: After graduating with an economics degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, Cohen got a Wall Street job as a junior trader. He would eventually go on to manage a $75-million portfolio and six traders for Gruntal & Co. before starting his own company (S.A.C. Capital) in 1992. He bought an 8% limited partnership stake in the Mets for $40 million in 2012 before paying a record price for a baseball team in 2020, ending the Wilpon family’s control of the franchise after 34 mostly frustrating years.

25

Philadelphia Phillies

Managing partner: John Middleton

Net worth: $3.3 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $30 million (1981)

Current franchise valuation: $2.1 billion

Value appreciation: 6,920%

Annualized appreciation: 10.9%

How he made his billions: In 1856 Middleton’s great-great grandfather founded a small retail tobacco operation that more than a century later would launch the Black & Mild cigar brand. In 2007, Middleton sold the company to Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, for $2.9 billion in cash.

Fast facts: Middleton, who replaced David Montgomery as the team’s controlling owner in 2016, wasn’t kidding when, two years later, he said that the Phillies would spend money, “and maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.” The following March, Philadelphia signed free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper to a 13-year, $330-million deal.

26

Pittsburgh Pirates

Chairman of the board: Bob Nutting

Net worth: $1.1 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $92 million (1996)

Current franchise valuation: $1.29 billion

Value appreciation: 1,305%

Annualized appreciation: 10.7%

How he made his billions: Nutting, 59, is the president and CEO of Ogden Newspapers, a publisher of more than 40 newspapers and media outlets — most of them in small markets — that was started by his great-grandfather, H.C. Ogden, in 1890. He also is the chairman of Nutting Co., a holding company that operates three ski resorts outside of Pittsburgh.

Fast facts: Nutting, nicknamed “Bottom-Line Bob,” has been heavily criticized — and rightfully so — for putting profits over performance. The Pirates have consistently been in the bottom third of MLB teams in payroll, and the team, despite playing in one of baseball’s most picturesque stadiums, has had only four winning seasons and three playoff appearances since 1993.

27

St. Louis Cardinals

Chairman and CEO: William O. DeWitt Jr.

Net worth: $4 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $150 million (1995)

Current franchise valuation: $2.2 billion

Value appreciation: 1,369%

Annualized appreciation: 10.5%

How he made his billions: DeWitt, 80, is a founder of the investment firm Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., which owns 63 Arby’s franchises and whose value has been estimated at $50.4 billion; and the U.S. Playing Card Company, which has an estimated value of $120 million.

Fast fact: DeWitt, previously a minority owner of the Orioles and Rangers, is the son of longtime MLB executive Bill DeWitt, who owned the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds. As a youngster, DeWitt Jr. served as a Browns batboy, and on Aug. 19, 1951, his jersey was worn by 3-foot-7 pinch-hitter Eddie Gaedel, a publicity stunt arranged by owner Bill Veeck.

28

San Diego Padres

Chairman: Peter Seidler

Net worth: $3 billion

Purchase price: $800 million (2012)

Current franchise valuation: $1.76 billion

Value appreciation: 220%

Annualized appreciation: 8.2%

How he made his millions: Seidler, 61, is the managing partner of Seidler Equity Partners, a Marina del Rey-based private equity firm that he founded in 1992. The company, which specializes in middle-market and emerging-growth investments, has an estimated net worth of $3 billion.

Fast facts: Seidler is the grandson of Walter O’Malley and the nephew of Peter O’Malley, both former Dodgers owners. He joined with Peter O’Malley and brewing industry magnate Ron Fowler to form the O’Malley Group, which purchased the Padres from John Moores in 2012. Seidler purchased part of Fowler’s share of the team to become the largest stakeholder — and to assume the role of chairman from Fowler — in November 2020.

29

San Francisco Giants

Owner: Charles Johnson

Net worth: $4.4 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $100 million (1993)

Current franchise valuation: $3.2 billion

Value appreciation: 3,000%

Annualized appreciation: 13.6%

How he made his billions: Johnson, 89, was 24 when he became CEO of Franklin Templeton Investments, a company that his father, Rupert Johnson, founded in 1947. The San Mateo-based company, which controls mutual fund purveyor Franklin Templeton, grew from $2.5 million in managed assets in 1957 to $800 billion when Charles Johnson retired in 2013.

Fast facts: Johnson, a Yale graduate, is one of the largest donors to Republican and Tea-Party backed political campaigns, and in 2018, he and his wife, Ann, were criticized for donating $16,2000 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, who made controversial comments to a local rancher about a “public hanging.” Johnson relinquished control of the team in 2019 to his son, Greg Johnson.

30

Washington Nationals

Managing principal owner: Lerner family

Net worth: $4.5 billion (2020)

Purchase price: $450 million (2006)

Current franchise valuation: $1.9 billion

Value Appreciation: 323%

Annualized appreciation: 9.4%

How he made his billions: Ted Lerner, 96, turned a $250 loan from his wife, Annette, in the 1950s into a real estate empire, founding Lerner Enterprises, currently the largest landowner in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Lerner family is also a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the 2018 Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, the 2019 WNBA champion Washington Mystics and the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Capital One Arena.

Fast facts: Lerner retired as managing principal owner in 2018, ceding control of the team to his son, Mark D. Lerner. After suffering several heartbreaking postseason losses over the past decade, the Nationals won a thrilling seven-game World Series over the Houston Astros in 2019, the first title in franchise history and first for a Washington-based team since the Senators won the World Series in 1924.

Note: Team values are based on Forbes 2021 list. Net worth for individual owners were culled from from Forbes, moneyinc.com, Celebrity Net Worth, Bloomberg and Canadian Business.