Lagardère Unlimited has hired two MLB agents who represent more than a dozen major leaguers in a move that will give the agency a significant baseball practice.
Agents Mike Seal and Ryan Ware will join Lagardère to be co-heads of LU Baseball after working for years as agents at LSW Baseball. Both will report to Andy Pierce, Lagardère Unlimited Americas’ president and chief executive officer.
The clients whom Seal and Ware represent and bring to Lagardère include Baltimore shortstop J.J. Hardy, free agent starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy, Colorado outfielder Drew Stubbs and Boston rookie standout third baseman Brock Holt.
Pierce said the company hired Seal and Ware after a search that lasted 11 months and included discussions with at least 30 individuals.
“Ryan and Mike are successful, experienced, well-rounded talent executives at the prime of
their management careers,” Pierce said. “They are smart and they are ethical.”
Agents switching agencies and taking their clients with them has been going on for years. Such moves have often resulted in grievances and disputes, but such is not the case here. Both Pierce and Craig Landis, founder of LSW Baseball, said the parting was amicable.
Landis said in an email that he will continue to represent baseball players, including Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout and
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The firm’s two new agents represent players including J.J. Hardy (top), Drew Stubbs and Brock Holt.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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recently retired Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko.
“Lagardère approached me, Mike and Ryan this year,” Landis wrote. “I had zero interest, as I am absolutely fulfilled owning my own small, Baseball-only Agency. Mike and Ryan thought it was a great opportunity to work for a large, international, multi-sports firm. Mike and Ryan decided, with my blessing, to go to work for this impressive Company, Lagardère.
“I wish Mike and Ryan all the best. Lagardère got themselves two of the best and most ethical Agents in the business.”
Seal and Ware both started their careers as agents at the pioneer baseball agency Reich, Katz & Landis. Seal joined in 1998; Ware joined in 2000, after playing baseball for three seasons with the Tampa Bay and Texas organizations.
Pierce said that Seal’s and Ware’s history, experience and commitment to baseball was another attraction for Lagardère. Arnaud Lagardère, chairman of Paris-based Lagardère SCA, has said that sports is a big part of the growth plan for the company, and in August 2013 he selected Pierce to run the U.S. operations.
Lagardère Unlimited has strong talent representation practices in the sports of golf, headed by agents Steve Loy, Mac Barnhardt, and Jimmy Johnston; tennis, headed by agent John Tobias; and NFL, headed by agent Joel Segal. Before the arrival of Seal and Ware, Lagardère had one MLB agent, Jason St. Clair, who represented a handful of MLB players, including Cleveland utility player Zach Walters. Now, the agency will represent about 20 MLB players.
“There is a certain scale issue. If you want to be in a sport, you have to have sufficient scale to be functional and relevant in that sport,” Pierce said. “Certainly, our view is we don’t get into a sport just to be in that sport.”
The sports talent business is in a mode of consolidation, and Pierce indicated that there will be more acquisitions to come for Lagardère. “We are looking at a number of things as we speak,” he said.
