big league player, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 47, according to his agent.
A team representative confirmed to the Washington Post on Monday that Ted Lerner, the retired managing principal owner of the Washington Nationals, had passed away due to complications resulting from pneumonia. He was ninety-seven. Major League Baseball sold the Nationals to Lerner in May 2006, and he gave his son Mark ownership of the team in 2018, ending his tenure as major owner.
The Nationals released a statement saying, “We announce the passing of Founding Managing Principal Owner, Theodore N. Lerner, with great sadness.” “Bringing baseball back to the city he loved and, with it, winning a championship for the first time since 1924, was the family business’s greatest accomplishment. He treasured the franchise and the benefits it offered his favorite hometown.”
Rob Manfred, the commissioner of MLB, issued the following statement on Monday:
Ted Lerner was a remarkable American success story, a devoted baseball fan, and a proud native of Washington, DC. This former usher at Griffith Stadium assumed ownership of the park in 2006 and turned Nationals Park into a premier attraction in 2008. The 2019 World Series Championship, the first for baseball fans in the District since 1924, marked the pinnacle of the Nationals’ successful baseball era. Most significantly, Ted’s ideal of unity, philanthropy, and civic pride in Washington has always been upheld by the Nationals.
“I’m very grateful for Ted’s contribution to his city and the sport he loved. I send my sincere sympathies to Ted’s whole family, which includes Annette Lerner, Mark Lerner and Judy Lenkin Lerner, Marla Lerner Tanenbaum and Robert Tanenbaum, and Debra Lerner Cohen and Edward Cohen, on behalf of Major League Baseball.”
In 2002, owner Jeffrey Loria of the Montreal Expos sold the team for $120 million to a partnership consisting of the other 29 MLB owners, as the organization was in serious financial trouble. After the Nationals were moved to Washington in 2005, the commissioner’s office managed the team until selling them to a group headed by Lerner in 2006 for $450 million. More than 90% of the franchise is owned by the Lerner family.
After the deal was finalized, Lerner remarked to the Associated Press, “Wow, it’s been some kind of day.” “It’s something I’ve been thinking about all my life, from the time I used to pay 25 cents to sit in the bleachers at Griffith Stadium.”
The Nationals have won the 2019 World Series championship and four NL East championships (2012), 2014, 2016, and 2017 under Lerner’s leadership. During that period, the team has had some of the best players in the game on its roster, including Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, and Bryce Harper. In January 2015, Lerner agreed to a seven-year, $210 million contract with Scherzer. At the time, it was the biggest free agent contract ever granted to a pitcher.
In March of last year, Forbes calculated the Nationals’ team valuation to be $2 billion. The Nationals are now for sale, but finding a new owner has been made more difficult by the ongoing MASN broadcast rights dispute with the Baltimore Orioles. Instead, it is said that the Lerner family may look for minority investors.
The millionaire Lerner gained his wealth through real estate development, mostly in Washington, DC. In addition to his three children, Mark, Debra, and Marla, he is also survived by his wife, Annette Morris; nine grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.
