A Japanese conglomerate is saying sayonara to American baseball.
Suntory International Corp. announced Monday it had sold Michael Jordan's old team, the Class Double-A Birmingham Barons, to the California-based Elmore Sports Group Ltd. for an undisclosed price.Suntory paid $3.6 million for the Barons in 1990, and the price was certainly higher this time. That's partly because Jordan's 1994 stint helped make it one of America's best-known minor league teams.
David Elmore, president of Elmore Sports Groups, called the Barons one of the premier minor league franchises. The team drew 303,066 fans last season, the third time in the past five years home attendance exceeded 300,000.
With Michael Jordan in 1994, the Barons drew 467,867 - a record.
"The Barons enjoy tremendous support from the Birmingham area and a long history of championship teams," Elmore said in a statement.
Suntory International President Eiji Koike said Elmore was "very committed" to keeping the team in Birmingham, where it plays in suburban Hoover.
The group, based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., jointly owns the San Bernardino Spirit of the Class A California League. It also owns two minor league hockey teams, the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks and the Utah Grizzlies.
The Elmore group owns four other minor league clubs: The Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League; the San Antonio Missions of the Double-A Texas League; the Eugene Emeralds of the Class A Northwest League, and the rookie-level Idaho Falls Braves of the Pioneer League.