It has been known for quite some time that Jeffrey Loria, owner of the Miami Marlins has been looking to sell the team. Well, we might be one step closer to actually seeing that happening.
According to several media sources, a group led by former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter have won the auction to own the Marlins. It is unknown as of this writing exactly how much they won the auction for. It is also being reported that this group was the only one who showed actual interest in owning the Marlins. Reports of the Marlins being sold started to hit the media when Charles Kushner, the father of White House senior advisor Jared Kushner had interest in buying the team. It was also around that time that reports started to circulate that Loria was being looked at as a possible ambassador to France.
The next step in the process is that they need to get 75% of the owners in Major League Baseball to approve of the deal. I personally can not find one reason why this doesn’t happen. Since Jefferey Loria has been the owner of the Marlins, it has been rough. Yes they have won one World Series title under the ownership of Loria in 2003, but he has basically blew up what he had and restarted.
The Miami Marlins are not the first team that he has owned. Back in 1989, he purchased the Oklahoma 89ers, then a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. He then sold them with his sights on owning a professional team by the early 90’s. Unfortunately, he was outbid for the Baltimore Orioles by Peter Angelos. It wouldn’t be until 1999, when he would purchase a small part of the Montreal Expos.
This would not be the first time that someone with the last name of Bush would own a team. Jeb’s older brother George owned the Texas Rangers from 1989-1994. I also feel this would be great for baseball to happen.