Thursday, September 18, 2014

Dodgers Triple-A Leaves Albuquerque for Oklahoma City

Peter Guber gets a team of his own!

LOS ANGELES -- The owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers have reached an agreement to buy a stake in the Oklahoma City RedHawks, and the team will change its Triple-A affiliation to Oklahoma City next year.

The deal marks the end of the Dodgers' minor league presence in Albuquerque after 44 years. The Dodgers will continue to play in the Pacific Coast League while moving to their American Northern Division and playing at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The agreement announced Wednesday is part of a partnership in which Peter Guber will be executive chairman and managing director of the RedHawks, and partners Paul Schaeffer and Larry Freedman will manage the company's operations.

The trio has held similar roles as principals with Mandalay Baseball Properties LLC. Magic Johnson was a founding partner with MBP in the Dayton Dragons franchise of the Midwest League, which was recently sold.

MBP bought the Oklahoma City franchise at the end of the 2010 season. It had been affiliated with the Houston Astros.

According to Dodgers.com, Los Angeles also signed an agreement Wednesday with the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League through the 2016 season and will move its Double-A team from Chattanooga, Tenn. I've actually been to a Tulsa Drillers game, so I'm cracking up here. Should have saved that blue hat.

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