Jay-Z Sues Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz

There’s only one Hova – and Jay-Z believes there should only be one line of nightclubs named after the baseball term “40-40 club.”

The rapper and his business partner Juan Perez own a chain of nightclubs called the 40/40 Club with locations in New York City and Atlantic City, N.J. A third 40/40 Club in Las Vegas closed in 2008. According to Reuters, additional clubs are planned for Tokyo and Macau.

Photo: Jason Moore

Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, N.C.

On Thursday Jay-Z and Perez filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court against Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz, who has his very own nightclub named Forty/Forty in his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

“David Ortiz is fully aware of plaintiff’s Manhattan 40/40 Club, since he had been a patron there on several occasions long before he opened his infringing Forty/Forty Club,” the lawsuit said.

The suit accuses the first baseman of trying to profit from Jay-Z’s fame and claims that the Dominican Republic club and its Web site, www.fortyforty.net, are causing “marketplace confusion and damage.”

Photo: AP Photo

Ortiz is tossed from the game during the sixth inning of an April 9, 2010, MLB game against the Kansas City Royals.

According to the 40/40 Club’s page on Resturant.com, the chain was named after the baseball term that “denotes players who hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.” The clubs features jerseys of the only players who have earned bragging rights for this incredible feat – Jose Canseco (1988) Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Alfonso Soriano (2006).

Ortiz scored more than 40 homers in a season for three consecutive years (2004-2006) but in his 14 seasons in the MLB, he’s only stolen a total of 10 bases, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Click here for the Reuters article.