EXCLUSIVE: Long Beach native Warren G joins ownership group of city’s new pro baseball team
The minor league club is negotiating for the shared use of Blair Field beginning next year and recently enlisted the community to help name the team.
Growing up in Long Beach in the 1970s and ’80s, Warren Griffin III played every sport he could — football, basketball, swimming, track and even baseball.
“I’m a fan of baseball, always have been,” Giffin — known worldwide as rapper, producer and DJ Warren G — told the Watchdog in an exclusive Aug. 28 interview. “I played. I didn’t go too far with it, but I loved it and I was just trying to stay out of the streets as a young teen.”
Once he began attending Jordan High School in North Long Beach, Warren stopped playing baseball, saying football took up most of his time. But he remains a die-hard Dodgers fan to this day, he said.
“You gotta roll with LA — Dodgers, Raiders, Lakers,” he said.
Now, the Long Beach regulator is taking his love of baseball and the city that raised him to work as part of the ownership group of the to-be-named Long Beach Baseball Club, a new minor league baseball team that hopes to take the field next year.
News of the team broke on July 17 when The 562 wrote of the Long Beach City Council’s impending vote on whether to work with the club and Cal State Long Beach to create a collaborative partnership. On July 22, the council voted unanimously to move forward with pursuing an agreement to bring the team to Long Beach.
The club is in talks to share Blair Field with Long Beach State’s Dirtbags.
“We welcome conversations with the city and others about additional uses that complement our longstanding Dirtbags baseball program at the stadium,” a university spokesperson said in a statement.
“Progress is strong, and our mutual goal is to have a general agreement on key terms finalized by October,” club co-owner Paul Freedman told the Watchdog in a Sept. 3 email.
Temporarily dubbed the Long Beach Baseball Club, the team would be the 13th in the Pioneer Baseball League. Founded in 1939, the Pioneer League operates as one of four Major League Baseball partner leagues without MLB team affiliations.
The team is backed by Innovation Baseball Partners, whose founders have ownership ties to the Oakland Ballers, which made it to the playoffs last year during its inaugural season.
“Long Beach offers the perfect blend of diversity, civic pride and a deep baseball tradition, qualities that mirror what has worked so well in Oakland,” said Freedman, who is co-founder of IBP and CEO and co-founder of the Oakland Ballers. “To our knowledge, Long Beach is the largest U.S. city without a professional baseball team to call its own. That’s a gap worth filling, and we believe the city is ready to embrace a team that proudly represents its community.”
Long Beach’s baseball roots
Long Beach has a long history with America’s pastime. From churning out pros to being the only city to win back-to-back Little League World Series titles (1992 and 1993). Much of the city’s baseball history revolves around Blair Field itself, which opened in 1958.
The first official game at Blair was played between Long Beach State and Long Beach City College on April 15 of that year. In 1961, the field hosted a Dodgers exhibition game that drew double the stadium’s capacity. In 1966, the Chicago Cubs used the stadium for spring training.
The Dirtbags, which earned four College World Series appearances, seven NCAA regional championships and 12 conference regular season championships, started playing at Blair Field in 1993 after the city renovated the 3,200-seat facility the year before.
Dozens of MLB players came out of Long Beach, including (in alphabetical order) Sean Burroughs, Travis d'Arnaud and his older brother Chase, Matt Duffy, Jason Giambi, Tony Gwynn, Aaron Hicks, Tim Salmon, J.T. Snow, Chase Utley and Jered Weaver.
“Long Beach and the surrounding region are a hotbed of baseball talent,” Freedman said. “We plan to recruit heavily from the local area, which we believe will give us a competitive advantage while also strengthening our connection to the community.”
The new club has not begun assembling its roster, Freedman said, adding that the groundwork is being laid to begin recruiting at the conclusion of the Pioneer League season later this month.
This also will not be Long Beach’s first foray into minor league baseball. The Long Beach Barracudas debuted in 1995 as part of the now-defunct Western Baseball League.
The team won the league that year, but not before some legal trouble forced a name change to The Franchise and then the Riptide before the end of the season. After the 1996 season, the team moved to Mission Viejo.
From 2001 to 2003, Long Beach and Blair Field were home to the Breakers, also part of the Western Baseball League. The team was coached by former Dodger catcher Steve Yeager and won the league championship in its inaugural season.
In 2005, the Long Beach Armada was founded as one of the original eight Golden Baseball League (also defunct) charter teams. The team played five seasons at Blair Field before suspending operations for the 2010 season amid a permit dispute with the City of Long Beach, according to Ballpark Digest.
During the July 22 City Council meeting, former pro baseball player Chase d'Arnaud reminisced about his time playing ball in Long Beach. He recalled how he and his brother Travis, who is currently a catcher with the Los Angeles Angels, would watch minor league games at Blair Field.
"We'd bring our gloves, we'd get autographs, we'd toss the baseball around behind the stands, and we'd play with other kids until it got dark," d'Arnaud said. "We trained there, we dreamed there, and Blair kept baseball alive for us when our seasons had ended. And that's why this opportunity makes so much sense to me: Blair Field is where serious baseball players from this region grow up wanting to play. It's iconic."
Connecting to the community
Being intertwined with the community is a core value for the club’s ownership.
“For us, success goes beyond wins and losses; it’s about being woven into the fabric of Long Beach,” Freedman said. “That means engaging local stakeholders, listening to the community, and ensuring their voices help shape the team’s operations and culture.”
For Warren G, the club’s vision of community hits different.
“It’s my home. It’s where I was born and raised,” Warren said, adding that he is looking forward to hosting community events such as barbecues and celebrations around Halloween, Christmas and other holidays.
Warren noted that he has his own barbecue brand, Sniffin Griffin’s, that will be integrated into events and maybe even regular concession offerings at the stadium. He also said he would like to see more local restaurants and breweries active at the stadium.
But before the team can take the field, it needs a name and the field itself needs some TLC, Freedman noted.
The club recently enlisted the community to help in naming the team. Submissions will be accepted through Sept. 12, with the best options getting AI-generated promo videos before a winner is selected, Freedman said. Entrants can win swag, season tickets, player meet & greets and more, according to the website.
When it comes to Blair Field, Freedman said it already meets many of the requirements for professional baseball but that a few million dollars worth of improvements, such as a batter’s eye (a dark-colored section of outfield wall beyond the center field fence that allows batters to better track the ball), will be needed to meet league standards.
Mayor Rex Richardson explained that over the past few years there has been an effort to connect “Long Beach legends” with ways to “tap in” and give back to the community.
“There’s a lot of interest from folks who were born and raised in the city and have gone on and seen some kind of success,” Richardson said. “There’s real interest in giving back to the city. I encourage it, I welcome it.”
Richardson said he hopes to see additional investment from locals who have made it — not just with the baseball club, but with additional sports like soccer, hockey (Ice Dogs, anyone?) and basketball, especially given the growing hype around women’s athletics.
While Warren will be a financial backer into the team for an undisclosed amount, he said the money is not all he is giving back.
“It’s not only money, but investing my time as well,” Warren said. “Money is cool and all that but for me it’s more giving back and giving Long Beach something to support.”
Given his own musical legacy — the younger step-brother of Dr. Dre and a pioneer of G-funk, starting with the trio 213 along with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, not to mention his triple-platinum hit “Regulate” — Warren said music will be an integral part of the team and its community-centered mission.
With his connections in the music industry, Warren said it will be common for Long Beach legacy and newer artists, as well as acts from outside of Long Beach, to perform at games and events. He noted that he recently performed with Snoop after a Cincinnati Reds game — a model he wants to bring to Long Beach.
“I got to give back the best way I can,” Warren said. “And being involved in this baseball team, maybe it’ll inspire some young kids to get into baseball and want to be a professional. Some of the guys that play on the team can move up to the majors. There’s opportunities for everybody.”
Warren said he’s looking forward to “adding to the legacy that’s already been built.
“To be a part of a team and having that as part of the community, it’s just a really good thing and will bring a spark back into the city,” he added. “When it comes time, I’m ready to just have a good time and win and bring that excitement to the LBC.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Warren G’s last name.
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
