AMBITION, VISION SET MCCOURT APART NEW DODGERS OWNER ADMIRED IN BOSTON.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

Frank McCourt was a twenty-something Boston businessman when he bought a piece of land across from the South Boston Seaport waterfront. It wasn't worth much.

That 25-acre property, used today for commuter parking, is now worth millions and became his ticket to realize a longtime dream to become a major- league baseball owner.

McCourt reached an agreement Friday to buy the Dodgers from News Corp. And McCourt, 49, is no longer known just as a Boston land developer.

``Of course, he's thrilled,'' said Drew McCourt, Frank's 22-year-old son. ``He's been working on different deals over the past couple years, and he loves baseball.''

McCourt tried to buy the Boston Red Sox in 2001, but the deal fell through. McCourt, a lifelong Red Sox fan who has season tickets, coupled his ownership proposal with plans for a new stadium on his waterfront property. Some scoffed that McCourt's bid was too low. Some said it had more to do with him being an unknown in the baseball world.

This year, McCourt took a tour of Edison Field in Anaheim in an attempt to buy the Angels, but that never came close to materializing, either.

After News Corp.'s talks with Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer died, McCourt finally became the major player and steadfastly worked out a deal to buy the Dodgers for an estimated $430 million, according to sources.

McCourt and his family are well-known in Boston's business circles. His family has been in business for the last century and owns the McCourt Construction Co.

McCourt owns his own land development firm - McCourt Co. - and his wife, Jamie, is the executive vice president.

McCourt has had his share of public battles with the city of Boston over proposed construction on his land. He's had many developments nixed. But he's also admired by many for his attempt to build a new baseball stadium for the Red Sox.

``He's viewed as a person who has a lot of ambition and was credited, and rightly so, with a vision of how to put the Red Sox in a new home that would be the gem of the state of baseball being near downtown,'' said Ted Bunker, the business editor for the Boston Herald. ``It would've been near enough to the water that it would be very similar to Pac Bell (Park in San Francisco).

``The vision to create that plan and to show it to people deserved a lot of credit, even though ultimately it was unsuccessful. (The idea) of putting a ballpark there caught the attention of a lot of people. To this day, it might have some legs if it's pursued by the new owners.''

McCourt is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a part- owner of the Boston Braves.

The McCourts now have ties to the Red Sox, Braves and Dodgers. The McCourts have been diehard Boston fans, and Red Sox mania is at an all-time high with Boston's first-round playoff series victory over Oakland.

It might seem a little foreign to wear Dodger blue for a while.

``There's an element of (weirdness in) that, but when you talk about baseball and franchises with great history, I think he's very happy to be part of the Dodgers,'' Drew McCourt said.

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com

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