Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and wife Jamie separate

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, wife separate

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his wife Jamie have separated.

The couple confirmed it in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

“This is a personal matter and they request that their privacy be respected,” the statement said, adding that no further public comments would be made.

The announcement came on the eve of Game 1 of the National League championship series between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

In March, Frank McCourt promoted his wife to chief executive officer of the team he gained ownership of in January 2004 after moving from his native Boston. She is the highest-ranking woman in Major League Baseball.

McCourt cited his wife’s “outstanding job of building a first-class business operation” in announcing the move.

Jamie McCourt began as Dodgers vice chairman and was named team president in 2005.

The McCourts were named “Power Couple of the Year” in 2008 by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

The couple, married since 1979, has four grown sons.

During the Dodgers’ division series sweep of St. Louis, the McCourts didn’t sit together in the owner’s box behind home plate. She sat in the first row and he was in the third, often next to former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda.