Scott Boras

Scott Dean Boras (born November 2, 1952) is an American sports agent, specializing in baseball. He is the founder, owner and president of the Boras Corporation, a sports agency based in Newport Beach, California, that represents roughly 175 professional baseball clients. Since 2013, "Forbes" magazine has named Boras the "Most Powerful Sports Agent in the World." In 2019, contracts signed by his clients totaled more than $1 billion in the month of December.
Early life and playing career.
Boras was born in California and grew up in Elk Grove, California, the son of a dairy farmer. He attended the University of the Pacific and made the baseball team as a walk on. He led the team with a .312 batting average in 1972. As of 2009, Boras was in the top 10 in school history in multiple offensive categories. Boras was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, and the baseball team's annual "Most Improved Player" award is named in his honor. Following his college career, Boras played four years of minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs organizations. Boras made the Florida State League All-Star team in 1976, but knee problems shortened his career and he retired with a career batting average of .288. Boras received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Pacific in 1977.
Following his playing career, Boras returned to the University of the Pacific, earning his Juris Doctor degree from the university's McGeorge School of Law in 1982. After law school, Boras worked as an associate in the pharmaceutical defense department of the Chicago firm Rooks, Pitts & Poust (now Dykema Gossett), defending drug companies against class-action lawsuits.
Boras Corporation.
Boras's start as an agent came representing Danny Trillo, a former major league shortstop for the Miami Marlins, and Bill Caudill, a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners, both of whom now work for Boras. By 1980, he had decided his calling was as a baseball agent. In 1983, Boras negotiated one of the largest contracts in baseball history for Caudill ($7.5 million), and not long afterward Boras left his law firm job to represent players full-time.
Today, Boras is the president and owner of the Boras Corporation, a baseball-only sports agency. In 2014, the Boras Corporation was named by Forbes magazine as the most valuable single-sport agency in the world.
Boras and his company Boras Corporation have become known for record-setting contracts for their free agent and amateur draft clients. Boras was the first baseball agent to negotiate contracts in excess of $50 million (Greg Maddux, five years, $57.5 million in 1997), $100 million (Kevin Brown, seven years, $105 million in 1998) and $200 million (Alex Rodriguez, 10 years, $252 million in 2000).
Boras also represents many of the elite players in each year's amateur draft and has been a strong advocate for increasing the amount of money they receive. Boras's first record-setting contract for a drafted player was $150,000 for Tim Belcher in 1983. Since then, Boras's clients have regularly pushed draft compensation higher, starting with Andy Benes in 1988 ($247,500), Ben McDonald in 1989 ($1.01 million guarantee, including a $350,000 bonus), Todd Van Poppel in 1990 ($1.2 million guarantee, including a $500,000 bonus) and Brien Taylor in 1991 ($1.55 million) and continuing through J. D. Drew ($8.5 million in 1998) and Mark Teixeira ($9.5 million in 2001). In 2009, Boras's clients broke several draft records, led by Stephen Strasburg, who surpassed the $15 million barrier with the largest contract in draft history ($15.1 million), Donavan Tate, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school player ($6.25 million), and Jacob Turner, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school pitcher ($4.7 million).
The Boras Corporation operates out of a $20 million, , two-story, glass-and-steel building in Newport Beach, California The corporate headquarters includes a kitchen, laundry room, gym, shower, lounge, 70 flat-screen televisions and a large patio with a tall waterfall, fire pit and barbecue. Boras's subsidiary companies include Boras Marketing (memorabilia, marketing, and endorsements) and the Boras Sports Training Institute (strength/conditioning and sports psychology). Many of Boras's 75-person staff are former major leaguers, including Bob Brower, Don Carman, Bill Caudill, Scott Chiamparino, Mike Fischlin, Calvin Murray, Jeff Musselman, Domingo Ramos and Kurt Stillwell, and the company has scouts spread across the United States, Asia and Latin America. Boras's staff also includes an MIT-trained economist, a former NASA computer engineer, three lawyers, five personal trainers, an investment team (although Boras's firm does not provide investment services for clients), a sports psychologist, a 14-person research staff and an employee charged with watching each day's games and sending information to Boras.
High-profile negotiations.
Over the course of his career, Boras has represented hundreds of players on all 30 major league teams and has participated in dozens of high-profile negotiations. Boras's specialty is the record-breaking contract, which he says is the most difficult to achieve because it then provides an "umbrella" from which other players can benefit. Boras is well known for identifying sources of leverage for his clients and using them for the clients' advantage. This has included advising draft picks to return to school instead of signing, taking advantage of the right to go to salary arbitration hearings, and advising superstars to wait for free agency instead of taking "hometown discount" contracts. This does not endear him to fans, who regularly side with their favorite teams and not individual players. Boras, however, has said his job is to represent his clients' interests, even if it means weathering public criticism. Boras's innovative strategies have benefited his clients enough that Major League Baseball has changed its rules in response to his actions on multiple occasions. This has led to descriptions of Boras ranging from "baseball's most hated man" (from management's perspective) to the man "players can't afford to live without."