Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker has joined venture capital firm Turn2 Equity Partners as a founding partner. Turn2 Equity will focus on investing in sports technology and media startups aimed at the amateur and professional baseball markets.
Turn2 Equity also announced the addition of its first portfolio company through an investment in Players Studios, a brand marketing agency founded by former MLB Advanced Media executive Dinn Mann. After a 19-year MLB career as an outfielder, Baker went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals. He was hired by the Astros in January following the team’s electronic sign-stealing scandal.
“For decades, baseball players, managers and executives have lended their credibility to brands as endorsers,” Baker said in a press release. “With the establishment of Turn2 Equity, for the first time, faces of the game have the opportunity to own and influence people at all levels.”
Baker joins an existing board of partners at Turn2 Equity that includes former New York Mets general manager Jim Duquette, former San Francisco Giants general manager Bobby Evans, and John Haegele, the former CEO of Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment. Turn2 Equity was co-founded by sports venture capitalists Jarett Sims and Peter Stein. The firm plans to recruit additional MLB players and executives to bolster its group of investing partners.
“Our mission is to switch the model from endorsing to owning. Baseball players have long been undervalued and underutilized off the field as business and media influencers,” Stein said in the press release.
