Legendary’s Thomas Tull Among Just 3 Contenders Bidding For San Diego Padres
EXCLUSIVE: More rich Hollywood boys and their toys besides Jerry Bruckheimer and pro hockey, and Peter Guber and pro basketball, and others. … Now the local San Diego media is reporting that Legendary Entertainment Chairman/CEO Thomas Tull is making a bid for the Padres baseball team. Today, San Diego Padres Hall of Fame outfielder and hometown hero Tony Gwynn — now head baseball coach at SDSU — publicly endorsed Tull to the local media. [UPDATE: Hall Of Famer Tony Gwynn is joining Tull's group in the bidding, according to Gwynn's agent John Boggs. Gwynn played for the Padres his entire 20-season big league career and is currently a baseball coach at his alma mater, San Diego State. The AP says that Gwynn met with Tull last week, according to Boggs.] Tull is one of 5 potential bidders for the team, but my sources say the vetting has narrowed to just 3 contenders — and Tull is among that select group. They want to buy the 51% share of the baseball team which current Padres Chairman John Moores is selling as the result of a divorce.
Tull is a well-known baseball fan who was born and raised in Binghamton, NY, less than 70 miles from Cooperstown, where he frequently visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. A ballplayer himself growing up, Tull eventually snagged a tryout with the Atlanta Braves. A Yankees fan but also Dodgers season-ticket holder, he counts The Natural among his favorite films and is currently producing the feature film 42 with Warner Bros about Jackie Robinson. Tull already is a minority owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers which incidentally helped in the filming of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Dark Knight Rises which Legendary helped finance with Warner Bros. The team’s home stadium served as a setting for a scene which appears in the trailer for the film which is exec-produced by Tull.
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