Steve Garvey Leads Group to Buy Dodgers

One of the most popular players in Dodgers history, Steve Garvey said Friday that he has teamed with billionaire business magnate Ron Burkle in an investment group that would like to buy the team.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig seized control of the Dodgers this week, dramatically increasing the chances the team eventually would be sold. In that event, Garvey said, he believes his baseball background and Burkle's business acumen could help the Dodgers reclaim their place among baseball's elite franchises.

Burkle teamed with franchise icon Mario Lemieux in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins in 1999; the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009. Burkle has pursued the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals in recent years, according to press reports.

Burkle, 58, has a home in Beverly Hills. Forbes estimates his net worth at $3.2 billion. At least two other local billionaires also have been reported to be preparing bids for the Dodgers: developer Alan Casden, who pursued the team when it was last up for sale, and financier Alec Gores, whose brother Tom bought the NBA's Detroit Pistons earlier this month.

Another NBA owner, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, previously has expressed interest in the Dodgers. In an email Friday, Cuban declined to say whether he would be interested in the Dodgers — "They aren't for sale," he wrote — but said he had received numerous messages from Dodgers fans in the three days since Selig acted.

"Between tweets and emails, I couldn't count them all," Cuban wrote.