Controlling the Game (CTG) Acquires Fila’s Verdero Division

Controlling the Game (CTG), a Bronx-based baseball equipment company, last month acquired Verdero, a professional-grade baseball footwear and apparel division of FILA. Terms of deal not disclosed.

CTG, the first Latino-owned company licensed by Major League Baseball to sell bats and gear to ballplayers; plans to rename its products: Verdero, Controlling the Game.

Founded in 2003, CTG has grown into a $1.4 million business and makes bats, gloves and apparel. Roberto Muller, former president of Reebok International Ltd. and founder of PONY Sports & Leisure, joined the company last year as one of principal partner in the venture.

In a press release, CTG said the Verdero acquisition enhances CTG's profile as a fast-growing manufacturer of high performance products for players of Major League Baseball. Verdero's line of cleats, batting gloves and compression tops position CTG as the only sporting goods company to offer a fully integrated baseball product-line, including high-end footwear, bats, apparel, and gloves.

“Similar to our bats and gloves, the Verdero line features products that are known in the big leagues for top performance and cutting-edge innovation,” said Jorge Medina, CEO and president of Controlling the Game.

According to the statement, Medina founded Controlling the Game in 2003, in his studio basement apartment with a dream of providing quality sporting goods that also convey positive messages. Four years later, over 55 Major League ballplayers use CTG equipment; and the Verdero acquisition only enhances those relationships. Major League ballplayers such as Ivan Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu and Alex Rios already used the Verdero line.

CTG says more than 200 MLB players have used Controlling the Game bats and gloves, including Albert Pujols, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Robinson Cano, Bobby Abreu, Cliff Floyd, Andruw Jones, Alex Rios and Pat Burrell.

CTG also recently received approval from the NCAA to sell is new revolutionary all-wood bat, The Woody, which looks like metal, but swings like wood. Medina sees the bat as an answer to the controversial metal bat ban in New York City.

“CTG's phenomenal success reflects the company's unrelenting quest for innovations,” said Muller. “With the acquisition of Verdero, Jorge Medina and CTG have secured their place in the upper echelon of the sporting good business as a technical, innovative brand of high-end products.”