Pop music maven-turned-agent Marc Anthony signs Aroldis Chapman
First Jay Z, and now Marc Anthony has ventured into the agent business. What's the hook for the ballplayers?
By
Dave Brown
•
1 min read
Reds left-hander Aroldis Chapman has a new agent, and you need to know who it is.
He's salsa and pop music superstar Marc Anthony, who is going into the sports agent business with his firm, MAGNUS Sports, in a joint venture with Praver/Shapiro Sports Management. As with Jay Z and Robinson Cano, it's not as though Anthony himself is going to be the one trying to get top dollar for the ballplayer come contract-negotiation time. He is part of the decision-making team, however.
Chapman, widely regarded as the best relief pitcher in the sport, has been discussed in trade rumors since the middle of the 2015 season, and he'll be a free agent in 2017. It's a crucial time for him to be certain of who is representing him.
Anthony and Chapman released a statement in a press release, and it's easy to see why such a venture would be appealing to both sides:
“Baseball, like music, is an ingrained cultural passion for many Latinos throughout the world and there's no shortage of amazing stars of Hispanic origin," Anthony said. "Despite that, until now there hasn’t been an enterprise specifically designed to meet their needs. With MAGNUS Sports, we are changing the existing dynamics and building a new kind of Management Company that understands the culture and knows how to build big media brands."
Chapman added: "I couldn’t be happier to have the MAGNUS Sports team supporting me as I enter the next important phase of my career. We are going to continue to work hard both on and off the field to push boundaries and achieve new levels of success."
It's about being comfortable in knowing that your agent understands your needs, and if your first language is Spanish, the Praver/Shapiro team has shown they speak your language -- literally and figuratively. Anthony is of Puerto Rican heritage, and Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro have been aggressive in recruiting Latino players through the years; they also represent Jorge Soler of the Cubs, Dilson Herrera of the Mets, Adeiny Hechavarria of the Marlins and others.
Chapman would seem to be in the right hands.
