The details of Justin Ishbia’s baseball career, according to Justin Ishbia, are too inconsequential to mention. Feel free to scour newspaper clippings about Birmingham (Mich.) Seaholm High’s exploits in the 1990s if you’re interested.
But Ishbia, the billionaire founder of a private equity firm and part owner of three professional sports franchises, made 45 straight Opening Days for the Detroit Tigers with his father. The two of them recently finished a tour of every major-league stadium, complete with what Ishbia calls a “nerdy ranking system” of seats, hot dogs and more.
Baseball, the sport, has been as consequential as it gets for him.
“The beauty of baseball is that it’s not about a star or two,” Ishbia told The Athletic on Monday. “It’s truly a team sport, and it’s a team sport over a long period of time. It’s a grind and it’s a discipline. It’s life. Life is the discipline of doing the same thing over and over again consistently. And that’s what the long summer of baseball is all about.”
And that philosophy has precipitated a $10 million donation to Michigan State athletics in the name of Ishbia and his wife, Kristen, both of whom earned undergraduate degrees in East Lansing. A sizable chunk — $1.5 million — is specifically aimed at refurbishing and upgrading the school’s baseball stadium, Ishbia said, and the field itself will be renamed in honor of Ishbia’s father, Jeff.
The bulk of the gift, though, is $7 million directed to Michigan State’s Men’s Basketball Excellence Fund, according to Ishbia. Which leaves Spartans coach Tom Izzo to “direct it wherever he thinks makes the most sense.”
“There’s no better steward than Tom Izzo,” Ishbia said.
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The Ishbia clan’s affection for MSU’s athletic endeavors is well-known. Mat Ishbia, Justin’s younger brother, was a walk-on for Michigan State men’s basketball who now owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and his $32 million donation to Michigan State athletics in 2021 helped put Izzo’s name on a new football building.
But the idea of helping the Spartans baseball program come out of the shadows a bit appealed to Justin Ishbia, who is also part owner of the Suns and Mercury while having a stake in Nashville FC in Major League Soccer, too. And that starts with updating McLane Baseball Stadium. “Baseball is a little under the radar,” Justin Ishbia said. “Baseball is a familial connection. It’s wanting to have them have a better opportunity to compete on the field.”
Previous contributions from Justin Ishbia to the school’s name, image and likeness efforts account for the other $1.5 million in the total.
Justin Ishbia earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State’s Eli Broad College of Business in 2000 and Kristen Ishbia graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 2008, after competing as a figure skater for the school’s club team. It’s another sizable foray for Justin Ishbia into public philanthropic donations over recent years: He donated $10 million to Vanderbilt Law School, his alma mater, in 2021 and matched his brother’s $1 million donation to the V Foundation in 2022.
Justin Ishbia is the founder and managing partner of Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and according to Forbes also has a 22 percent stake in United Wholesale Mortgage, for which his brother Mat serves as CEO and chairman. But it’s no coincidence, Ishbia says, that he seeks out talented former college athletes to work at Shore Capital while sports metaphors filter throughout the day-to-day operations.
“Team sports taught me there’s always someone working harder than you, there’s always someone bigger than you, there’s always someone stronger than you,” Ishbia said. “But the discipline, the process to do things over and over again, that is how you succeed.”
And there is at least one more baseball goal on the checklist: Major-league franchise owner.
“I have to work my day job really hard the next few years,” Ishbia said with a laugh. “But first and foremost, giving back to the place that gave so much to me through team sports, that’s the big picture.”
(Photo of Justin Ishbia, left, and his brother, Mat: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
