The Everett AquaSox are changing hands.
Everett’s minor-league baseball team was sold by the Carfagna family Tuesday to a group led by Thomas S. Volpe, the CEO of global investment company the Dubai Group. Volpe’s baseball arm, 7th Inning Stretch, LLP, also owns two other minor-league teams, the Delmarva (Md.) Shorebirds and the Stockton (Calif.) Ports.
The announcement came late Tuesday night after voting polls closed because Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate for governor, was one of the minority investors in the Carfagnas’ group.
The sale of the AquaSox, a member of the short-season single-A Northwest League, is contingent upon approval by Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Volpe, who will serve as the team’s chairman, becomes the fourth owner in the franchise’s 25-year history, following Bob Bavasi, Mark Sperandio and the Carfagnas. Pat Filippone, the president of California-based 7th Inning Stretch and an 18-year veteran of minor-league baseball, is also a principle owner and will serve as team president.
“We are excited for the opportunity to be the new stewards of minor-league baseball in Everett,” Volpe said in a press release. “Working to build on an already stellar fan experience will be a top priority.”
The Carfagna family, based out of Cleveland, owned the team for four years, purchasing the Sox from Sperandio in 2004. The Carfagnas will continue to own their other two minor-league teams, the Lake County (Ohio) Captains and the Lancaster (Calif.) JetHawks.
“This is a bittersweet time for our family,” Peter A. Carfagna, the patriarch of the Carfagna family and the majority owner, said in the release. “We offered the club for sale with the condition that the new owners be a proper fit for the club and the community. Although their resumes speak for themselves, we are 100-percent confident Tom Volpe and Pat Filippone will be just that. They will have a meaningful local presence.”
The Carfagnas had been less visible locally since Pete E. Carfagna, Peter A. Carfagna’s son and the team’s vice president of baseball operations, was married and decided to start a family in Cleveland.
AquaSox broadcaster Pat Dillon, who also serves as the club’s media relations liason, said the majority of the front-office staff, including general manager Brian Sloan, has been retained, at least for the time being.
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