News that the cash-poor New York Mets baseball club will sell a minority stake to hedge fund billionaire David Einhorn for $200-million reflects a growing trend among professional sports franchise ownership – the rising prominence of financial executives and other purely corporate entities in this lofty realm.

Baseball teams used to be owned by families who kept their clubs as a treasured heirloom for generations. Quite a few made their money in real estate or some other brick-and-mortar business. But as the US economy has evolved and drastically changed in the past few decades, the identity and background of pro sports owners have also changed.

Here is a survey of who owns the teams in the National League East:

See links to other Major League Baseball owners:

NL CENTRAL

NL WEST

AL EAST

AL CENTRAL

AL WEST

Patty Hearst
Hearst during the April 1974 Hibernia bank robbery. Wiki Commons
New York New York