FRED CLAIRE JOINS BULLPEN BASEBALL PARTNERS

    Former Los Angeles Dodgers Executive Vice-President Fred Claire has joined the investment group Bullpen Baseball Partners as a consultant.

    Bullpen Baseball Partners is an investment group that plans to acquire Minor League Baseball teams (web site: www.BullpenBaseballPartners.com).

    The announcement of Claire’s role was made by Kurt Colicchio, one of the principals of the company. Colicchio is a minority owner of the Yakima Bears, a team in the Northwest League.

    “The objective of Bullpen Baseball Partners is to acquire minor league teams whose value and annual operations may be enhanced by the sports business expertise of the principals and consultants of the company,” said Colicchio. “Fred Claire served as a member of the Dodger front office for 30 years and he brings a great deal of experience and expertise to our company.”

         Colicchio said that Jim McCurdy, president of the Pioneer League with more than 17 years of experience in professional baseball, also would serve as a consultant to Bullpen Baseball Partners.

    Claire joined the Dodgers in 1969 and advanced from publicity director of the team to the position of Executive Vice-President with responsibility for player personnel decisions and baseball operations.

    In a distinguished career with the Dodgers, Claire served the team as publicity director; vice president of public relations, promotions and marketing; Executive Vice President in charge of day-to-day operations; and Executive VP in charge of player personnel. Claire was saluted as Major League Baseball’s “Executive of the Year” in l988 as the Dodgers won the World Series.

    Since his departure from the Dodgers in June of 1998, Claire has maintained an active schedule as an instructor at the University of Southern California and as a consultant for SportsTrac Systems of Boulder, Colorado. Claire also writes a weekly column on baseball for SportsTicker.

    McCurdy is a member of Minor League Baseball’s Council of League Presidents. He is a past member of the Minor League Baseball Board of Trustees, and he served as mediator of the Minor League Constitutional Convention in 1992 for the restructure of the Minor League Baseball governing body.

McCurdy currently serves as a manager of the LLC operating the Yakima Bears. He is a Professor of Law at the Gonzaga University School of Law and among the classes he teaches is one on sports law, and he is the co-author of Sports Law, 4th ed. (2000), which focuses upon legal issues facing professional and amateur sports.

For more information: info@bullpenbaseballpartners.com



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