Let's talk about general managing.
Let's talk about general managers and us. By the time we attain a certain age, we are all quite aware that we can't have any part of those baseball things that are actually important - hitting, running, throwing. Stuff like that. But we are still capable sometimes of telling ourselves that we know better than the guy in the dugout making game-level decisions, or the fellow upstairs making team-level decisions. This, of course, is delusional on a truly cosmic scale, if only for the obvious reason that we observers are always privy to but a fraction of the actual information behind all those decisions we so casually pass judgement upon, and often quite unaware of the various constraints that may be applicable. But that's not going to stop a single one of us, is it?
I thought not. It's never stopped me, anyway.
Back in the day, when Bill James wrote about managers he liked to make note of who a manager had played for (because they had all played for somebody.) Bauxite Emeritus Craig Burley used to talk in terms of a manager's bloodlines, as if they were horses. Certainly we've often wanted to take them out back and shoot them on occasion.
Cito Gaston, for example, played in the majors for Billy Hitchcock, Preston Gomez, Don Zimmer, John McNamara, Clyde King, Connie Ryan, Dave Bristol, Bobby Cox, and Chuck Tanner. That's a lot of different guys in just 11 seasons, but Gaston did spend his entire career on terrible, terrible teams (six of them lost 100 games, three more lost 90) and they're the ones that change managers most often. (Gaston himself always said Preston Gomez was the closest thing he had to a managerial model.)
Nevertheless, this was truly not my original intention, I promise! I began with the innocent thought that Ross Atkins is the fifth Blue Jays GM. The team does go all the way back to 1977, and that doesn't seem like very many. But how would we actually know? The same way we know most things in this game - by looking at everybody else as well. So I simply began with a list of every team's GM since 1977. And then - I remembered my old piece about the bloodlines, which I had completely forgotten. I then had the devil's own time finding it. I actually had to do a bloody Google search, I had no idea what year it was from. But having remembered it, and found it, I thought I just had to update it. I wasn't very happy to discover that just one of 2008's general managers was still doing the job in 2022.
Toronto (5) - Pat Gillick, Gord Ash, J.P. Ricciardi, Alex Anthopoulos, Ross Atkins (49 - since 2016). Atkins was a minor league pitcher in the Cleveland system whose playing career stalled in A ball - he moved into the player development part of new GM Mark Shapiro's front office in 2001, when he was 28 years old. Shapiro had joined John Hart's front office in Cleveland when he was 24.
New York (13) - Gabe Paul, Cedric Tallis, Gene Michael, Bill Bergesch, Murray Cook, Clyde King, Woody Woodward, Lou Piniella, Bob Quinn, Harding Peterson, Gene Michael, Bob Watson, Brian Cashman (55 - since 1998.) That's a lot of guys, all bearing the Mark of Steinbrenner. Cashman has spent his entire baseball career with the Yankees, where he started out as an intern. He worked under previous GMs Bob Watson and Gene Michael. Cashman became assistant GM in 1993, during Gene Michael's tenure as the Yankees GM.
Tampa Bay (5) - Chuck LaMar, Andrew Friedman, Matthew Silverman, Erik Neander, Peter Bendix (37 - since 2021.) Bendix joined the Rays as an intern in 2009 when Friedman was the GM. He's like the young Shapiro in that his entire professional career since leaving school has been spent with this one baseball organization.
Baltimore (10) - Hank Peters, Roland Hemond, Pat Gillick, Frank Wren, Syd Thrift, Jim Beattie, Mike Flanagan, Andy MacPhail, Dan Duquette, Mike Elias (39 - since 2018.) Elias started out as a scout with St.Louis, and went to Houston with Jeff Luhnow. He rose to assistant GM there before getting the Baltimore job.
Boston (8) - Dick O'Connell, Haywood Sullivan, Lou Gorman, Dan Duquette, Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Mike Hazen, Brian O'Halloran (50 - since 2020.) O'Halloran started as an intern in San Diego but joined the Red Sox in 2002. I assume this was under the new management (Theo Epstein) who had likewise come to Boston from San Diego after Boston's new ownership group fired the GM in place, Dan Duquette. O'Halloran would have worked for Epstein and his successors, Cherington and Hazen.
Cleveland (7) - Phil Seghi, Joe Klein, Hank Peters, John Hart, Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff (41 - since 2015.) Chernoff started as an intern in Shapiro's Cleveland front office, became the assistant GM when Shapiro moved upstairs and Antonetti became the GM. When it was time for Antonetti to move upstairs, it was Chernoff's turn.
Minnesota (7) - Calvin Griffith, Howard Fox, Andy MacPhail, Terry Ryan, Bill Smith, Terry Ryan**, Thad Levine (50 - since 2016.) Levine started out working more on the business side of the front office for the Dodgers and then the Rockies. He then spent a decade as assistant GM to Jon Daniels in Texas before getting the Minnesota post.
Chicago (6) - Roland Hemond, Ken Harrelson, Larry Himes, Ron Schueler, Ken Williams, Rick Hahn (51 - since 2012.) Hahn has been with the White Sox since 2002, working for Kenny Williams, and succeeding to the top job when Williams moved upstairs.
Kansas City (6) - Joe Burke, John Schuerholz, Herk Robinson, Allard Baird, Dayton Moore, J.J. Picollo (51 - since 2021.) Picollo started out as a scout for the Braves, and when Dayton Moore left Atlanta to take the KC GM job, he brought Picollo with him. He became the GM last year when Moore went upstairs.
Detroit (8) - Jim Campbell, Bill Lajoie, Joe McDonald, Jerry Walker, Joe Klein, Randy Smith, Dave Dombrowski, Al Avila, (currently vacant)
Houston (10) - Tal Smith, Al Rosen, Dick Wagner, Bill Wood, Bob Watson, Gerry Hunsicker, Tim Purpura, Ed Wade, Jeff Luhnow, James Click (44 - since 2020.) Click started as an intern, and then had a long run in the Tampa Bay front office under Andrew Friedman, before Houston suddenly needed to replace Jeff Luhnow.
LA Angels (11) - Harry Dalton, Buzzie Bavasi, Mike Port, Dan O'Brien, Whitey Herzog, Bill Bavasi, Bill Stoneman, Tony Reagins, Jerry DiPoto, Billy Eppier, Perry Minasian (42 - since 2020.) He started out as a scout and assistant to the manager in Texas, and then in the scouting department for the Blue Jays, beginning under Ricciardi in 2009. He became the assistant GM in Atlanta under Copolella in 2017, where Alex Anthopoulos inherited him (again!) on taking over. He became the assistant GM in Atlanta, before getting the Angels' job.
Oakland (5) - Charles Finley, Billy Martin, Sandy Alderson, Billy Beane, David Forst (46 - since 2015.) Forst played a couple of years in independent ball, before getting a scouting job with Billy Beane's A's. He became the assistant GM in 2004, and when Beane went upstairs, took over as GM.
Seattle (11) - Dick Verlieb, Lou Gorman, Dan O'Brien, Hal Keller, Dick Balderson, Woody Woodward, Pat Gillick, Bill Bavasi, Lee Pelekoudas, Jack Zduriencik, Jerry DiPoto (54 - since 2015.) DiPoto is one of just a few GMs who actually played major league baseball, spending eight seasons as a relief pitcher for Cleveland, the Mets, and the Rockies. He worked in the scouting departments for Colorado and Boston before becoming part of the Josh Byrnes front office in Arizona. He then got the Angels GM job, where he spent some three years battling with Mike Scioscia before resigning in 2015. He took the Seattle job a few months later, making him one of five current GMs who has worked as some other team's GM.
Texas (8) - Dan O'Brien, Eddie Robinson, Joe Klein, Tom Grieve, Doug Melvin, John Hart, Jon Daniels, Chris Young (43 - since 2020.) Young played thirteen seasons in the majors - after his time as the second tallest player (tied, actually) in the game's history he doubtless became the tallest man in the MLB office. He went from there to the Texas GM post when Jon Daniels went upstairs.
Atlanta (8) - Bill Lucas, John Mullen, Bobby Cox, John Schuerholz, Frank Wren, John Hart, John Coppolella, Alex Anthopoulos (45 - since 2017.) As you probably know, he started as an Expos intern before joining Ricciardi's scouting department. After Toronto, he spent two years on Farhan Zaidi's team with the Dodgers before going to Atlanta.
Miami (5) - Dave Dombrowski, Larry Beinfest, Dan Jennings, Michael Hill, Kim Ng (53 - since 2020.) Ng began as an intern with the White Sox in 1991; she spent three years with the Yankees and Brian Cashman before going to the Dodgers in 2001. She went to the MLB office in 2011, and interviewed for at least five GM posts before getting the Miami job.
New York (11) - Joe McDonald, Frank Cashen, Al Harazin, Joe McIlvaine, Steve Phillips, Jim Duquette, Omar Minaya, Sandy Alderson, Brodie van Wagenen, Jared Porter, Billy Epper (46 - since 2021.) Eppier started as a scout for the Rockies before a ten year stint in Brian Cashman's New York office, mostly in the scouting department. He interviewed for several GM posts before getting the Angels job in 2015. He was fired after the 2020 season, and hired by the Mets a year later. He is the only current GM who was fired from the GM position by some other team, but being fired by the Angels would hardly qualify as a black mark on anyone's resume.
Philadelphia (9) - Paul Owens, Bill Giles, Woody Woodward, Lee Thomas, Ed Wade, Pat Gillick, Ruben Amaro Jr, Matt Klentak, Sam Fuld (40 - since 2020.) Fuld played in eight MLB seasons and went straight into the Phillies front office when he was through playing. He was mentioned repeatedly as a candidate for vacant managerial jobs, Toronto included, before getting the Phillies GM post.
Montreal/Washington (12) - Charlie Fox, John McHale, Murray Cook, Bill Stoneman, Dave Dombrowski, Dan Duquuette, Kevin Malone, Jim Beattie, Larry Beinfest, Omar Minaya, Jim Bowden, Mike Rizzo (61 - since 2009.) Rizzo had a short minor league career, spending three years in A ball. His post-playing career began as a scout, for Sox both White and Red, before becoming Arizona's director of scouting. When Josh Byrnes got the GM instead of him, he went to Washington as Jim Bowden's assistant GM and replaced him after Bowden's rather unexpected resignation.
Chicago (12) - Bob Kennedy, Herman Franks, Dallas Green, Jim Frey, Larry Himes, Ed Lynch, Andy MacPhail, Jim Hendry, Randy Bush, Theo Epstein, Jeff Hoyer, Carter Hawkins (38 - since 2021.) Hawkins began as a scout in Shapiro's Cleveland front office, moving up to assistant GM under Chris Antonetti, before getting the Cubs job
.
Cincinnati (11) - Bob Howsam, Dick Wagner, Bill Bergesch, Murray Cook, Bob Quinn, Jim Bowden, Dan O'Brien, Wayne Krivsky, Walt Jocketty, Dick Williams, Nick Krall (44 - since 2018.) After two years as an intern in Oakland, he joined the Reds in 2003 where's he's been a scout, operations director, and assistant GM before getting his current post.
Milwaukee (7) - Jim Baumer, Harry Dalton, Sal Bando, Dean Taylor, Doug Melvin, David Stearns, Matt Arnold (43 - since 2020.) Arnold spent a year working for the Dodgers and another year for Oakland (I'm guessing as an intern) before getting a real job in the Cincinnati scouting department. He then spent almost a decade in Andrew Friedman's Tampa Bay front office before going to Milwaukee.
Pittsburgh (8) - Harding Peterson, Syd Thrift, Larry Doughty, Ted Simmons, Cam Bonifay, Dave Littlefield, Neal Huntington, Ben Cherington (48 - since 2019.) Cherington started as an area scout for Boston and moved into Dan Dququette's front office and remained there under Theo Epstein. He succeeded Epstein in 2012, and resigned when Dave Dombrowski was hired as president of baseball operations in 2015. Something similar was happening in Toronto at the same time. Cherington spent a couple of years in the Jays front office before getting the Pittsburgh job.
St.Louis (8) - Bing Devine, John Claiborne, Whitey Herzog, Joe McDonald, Dal Maxvil, Walt Jocketty, John Mozeliak, Mike Girsch (45 - since 2017.) Girsch wrote an academic paper and sent it to John Mozeliak in St.Louis, who liked it and hired him. He worked in the baseball development side before becoming assistant GM in 2011, and succeeding Mozeliak in 2017.
Arizona (7) - Joe Garagiola Jr, Bob Gebhard, Josh Byrnes, Jerry DiPoto, Kevin Towers, Dave Stewart, Mike Hazen (46 - since 2016.) Hazen started in Cleveland, in Shapiro's scouting department, before going to the Red Sox in 2006. He rose to assistant GM, and then spent one year as Dombrowski's GM before taking the Arizona job.
Colorado (4) - Bob Gebhard, Dan O'Dowd, Jeff Bridich, Bill Schmidt (63 - since 2021.) The oldest current GM, Schmidt has spent his long career in scouting, beginning with Cincinnati in 1982, and also working for the Yankees and Cleveland before joining the Rockies in 1999. He had been vice-president of scouting since 2007.
Los Angeles (8) - Al Campanis, Fred Claire, Kevin Malone, Dan Evans, Paul DePodesta, Ned Colletti, Farhan Zaidi, Vacant, Brandon Gomes (38 - since 2022.) Gomes worked out of the Tampa Bay bullpen for five seasons, before his final release (by the Cubs in 2016.) He went from there to the Dodgers, where he worked in player development before becomng assistant GM in 2019. The Dodgers GM post was actually vacant at this time, and would remain so until Gomes was officially promoted this January. One assumes the job was being done by Gomes and Andrew Friedman, who was officially the President of Baseball Operations.
San Diego (8) - Bob Fontaine, Jack McKeon, Joe McIlvaine, Randy Smith, Kevin Towers, Jed Hoyer, Josh Byrnes, A.J. Preller (45 - since 2014.) Another one who started as an intern, for the Phillies. He worked for the Dodgers and for MLB before becoming a scouting director for Texas in 2004. He rose to assistant GM in Texas before getting the San Diego job.
** Ryan did two separate tours as the Twins GM (1994-2007 and 2011-2016)
I've been trying not to count the many, many interim GMs - Rob Antony in Minnesota, Mike Port in Boston, Tony LaCava in Toronto, John Rocco in New York, Tom Lasorda and Dave Wallace in Los Angeles, Joe Brown, Roy Smith, and Brian Graham in Pittsburgh, Bill Stoneman's second term in Anaheim - who filled the job of a departed predecessor while the team looked for a permanent replacement.
Let's talk about general managers and us. By the time we attain a certain age, we are all quite aware that we can't have any part of those baseball things that are actually important - hitting, running, throwing. Stuff like that. But we are still capable sometimes of telling ourselves that we know better than the guy in the dugout making game-level decisions, or the fellow upstairs making team-level decisions. This, of course, is delusional on a truly cosmic scale, if only for the obvious reason that we observers are always privy to but a fraction of the actual information behind all those decisions we so casually pass judgement upon, and often quite unaware of the various constraints that may be applicable. But that's not going to stop a single one of us, is it?
I thought not. It's never stopped me, anyway.
Back in the day, when Bill James wrote about managers he liked to make note of who a manager had played for (because they had all played for somebody.) Bauxite Emeritus Craig Burley used to talk in terms of a manager's bloodlines, as if they were horses. Certainly we've often wanted to take them out back and shoot them on occasion.
Cito Gaston, for example, played in the majors for Billy Hitchcock, Preston Gomez, Don Zimmer, John McNamara, Clyde King, Connie Ryan, Dave Bristol, Bobby Cox, and Chuck Tanner. That's a lot of different guys in just 11 seasons, but Gaston did spend his entire career on terrible, terrible teams (six of them lost 100 games, three more lost 90) and they're the ones that change managers most often. (Gaston himself always said Preston Gomez was the closest thing he had to a managerial model.)
Being industrious, and not enormously original, I thought one could apply the same kind of thinking to general managers. They don't get hired off the street - they have all had jobs in baseball, often for other teams, often in other front offices, and always for other general managers. They would have bloodlines too. I carried out this exercise back in May 2008 - Craig and fellow Bauxite Gwyn were so delighted that each translated my research into a graphic. This was Craig's
and this was Gwyn's
Naturally, I basked in their praise, and I'm just shameless enough to seek it out again.
Nevertheless, this was truly not my original intention, I promise! I began with the innocent thought that Ross Atkins is the fifth Blue Jays GM. The team does go all the way back to 1977, and that doesn't seem like very many. But how would we actually know? The same way we know most things in this game - by looking at everybody else as well. So I simply began with a list of every team's GM since 1977. And then - I remembered my old piece about the bloodlines, which I had completely forgotten. I then had the devil's own time finding it. I actually had to do a bloody Google search, I had no idea what year it was from. But having remembered it, and found it, I thought I just had to update it. I wasn't very happy to discover that just one of 2008's general managers was still doing the job in 2022.
The very term "general manager" is something that developed some time later than the actual job. The earliest general managers, of course, were generally either the team's owner (think Connie Mack) or the team's manager (think John McGraw.) They were also their own scouting directors, performance coordinators, and whatever else you can think of. They managed the games, taught the players how to hit a curveball, negotiated the contracts, and beat the backwoods looking for talent in the off-season. Both these wondrous species have long since vanished from the earth. I'm pretty sure that Jack McKeon in San Diego and Whitey Herzog in St.
Louis are the last managers who truly served as their own GM. Billy
Martin acted as his own GM for his first two years in Oakland. Owner Bob Short had briefly attempted to run his Texas team in the 1970s. But even Bill Veeck, who always described himself as an old-fashioned
owner/operator and did have an extensive baseball background, hired a GM
for his last lap around the park. The last owners who doubled as a GM were Calvin Griffith in Minnesota and Charlie Finley in Oakland. Griffith was groomed all his life to run a baseball team while Finley was an insurance man with no baseball background at all. Still, while this breed has gone the way of the buffalo - or, more
accurately, the passenger pigeon - I'm pretty sure it wasn't
Rick Hahn who decided to hire Tony LaRussa to manage the White Sox. And then there was Steinbrenner...
It is not entirely surprising, then, that the longest serving GMs also happened to own the team. Connie Mack ran the A's from 1901 through 1949, before his sons finally persuaded him to give up the reins in 1950. Clark Griffith did likewise in Washington from 1920 through 1955. Mack and Griffith had both been major league players; Mack was the A's field manager as well during all these years. Griffith had managed the Senators before his ownership stake grew large enough that he could assume full control of the team's operations; once it did, he left the dugout and worked in the office. He was succeeded by his nephew Calvin Griffith, who had been adopted by his uncle and groomed for the post. Calvin Griffith operated as his own GM until selling the team in 1984. Barney Dreyfuss was a businessman, and a shrewd one, who parlayed his ownership of the last place Louisville Colonels into a half-share of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was then able to buy out his partners. Even John McGraw, who will always be best remembered as a field manager, had a small ownership stake in the Giants. Those five men - Connie Mack, Clark Griffith, Barney Dreyfuss, John McGraw, and Calvin Griffith - carried out what we now regard as the general manager's job for the same team longer than anyone else in the game's history.
The first great GMs who neither owned nor managed their teams were Ed Barrow and Branch Rickey, both of whom had been field managers. Rickey had played in the majors, albeit not particularly well, before returning to the game as an executive with the Browns and then as field manager. He moved across town to manage the Cardinals until he was fired by owner Sam Breadon in 1925. Breadon put Rickey in charge of running the franchise instead. This turned out to be a much better use of his talents. Ed Barrow had actually started out selling concessions. He had moved from there into ownership of several minor league teams, then into field management with Detroit (where he might have set up one of the game's very first platoon arrangements!) and, a decade later with Boston. He managed the 1918 Red Sox to a title. It would be their last one for quite some time. Barrow spent part of the years in between baseball jobs right here in Toronto, managing the Windsor Arms hotel. When Red Sox owner started selling all his stars to the Yankees, Barrow decided to go there as well. He took over as business manager of the Yankees in 1920, in which position it was he - not the field manager - who oversaw the team's roster. He did a pretty decent job there over the next twenty-six years. No GM can match the ten titles the Yankees won during Barrow's tenure; no one even comes very close. Barrow's tenure with the Yankees is still the longest of anyone with the same team (save the five special cases discussed above.) Branch Rickey was a GM for 31 years, but for three different teams; a GM of more recent vintage, Pat Gillick was a GM for 28 years (for four teams.) Rickey's St. Louis teams only won four titles, though they added two more in the first three years after Rickey had moved on to Brooklyn after the 1942 season. (He didn't win with the Dodgers. Came pretty close.) The only man who even approaches Barrow's total is his own apprentice in New York, George Weiss, who Barrow hired to run the farm system and who had succeeded to the post when Barrow retired in 1946. Weiss' teams won seven championships before he was forced out, along with Casey Stengel, when Bill Mazeroski hit that home run.
Anyway here's the current crop. The incumbent is bolded, and I've added his age and the year he took up the post in parentheses.
Toronto (5) - Pat Gillick, Gord Ash, J.P. Ricciardi, Alex Anthopoulos, Ross Atkins (49 - since 2016). Atkins was a minor league pitcher in the Cleveland system whose playing career stalled in A ball - he moved into the player development part of new GM Mark Shapiro's front office in 2001, when he was 28 years old. Shapiro had joined John Hart's front office in Cleveland when he was 24.
New York (13) - Gabe Paul, Cedric Tallis, Gene Michael, Bill Bergesch, Murray Cook, Clyde King, Woody Woodward, Lou Piniella, Bob Quinn, Harding Peterson, Gene Michael, Bob Watson, Brian Cashman (55 - since 1998.) That's a lot of guys, all bearing the Mark of Steinbrenner. Cashman has spent his entire baseball career with the Yankees, where he started out as an intern. He worked under previous GMs Bob Watson and Gene Michael. Cashman became assistant GM in 1993, during Gene Michael's tenure as the Yankees GM.
Tampa Bay (5) - Chuck LaMar, Andrew Friedman, Matthew Silverman, Erik Neander, Peter Bendix (37 - since 2021.) Bendix joined the Rays as an intern in 2009 when Friedman was the GM. He's like the young Shapiro in that his entire professional career since leaving school has been spent with this one baseball organization.
Baltimore (10) - Hank Peters, Roland Hemond, Pat Gillick, Frank Wren, Syd Thrift, Jim Beattie, Mike Flanagan, Andy MacPhail, Dan Duquette, Mike Elias (39 - since 2018.) Elias started out as a scout with St.Louis, and went to Houston with Jeff Luhnow. He rose to assistant GM there before getting the Baltimore job.
Boston (8) - Dick O'Connell, Haywood Sullivan, Lou Gorman, Dan Duquette, Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Mike Hazen, Brian O'Halloran (50 - since 2020.) O'Halloran started as an intern in San Diego but joined the Red Sox in 2002. I assume this was under the new management (Theo Epstein) who had likewise come to Boston from San Diego after Boston's new ownership group fired the GM in place, Dan Duquette. O'Halloran would have worked for Epstein and his successors, Cherington and Hazen.
Cleveland (7) - Phil Seghi, Joe Klein, Hank Peters, John Hart, Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff (41 - since 2015.) Chernoff started as an intern in Shapiro's Cleveland front office, became the assistant GM when Shapiro moved upstairs and Antonetti became the GM. When it was time for Antonetti to move upstairs, it was Chernoff's turn.
Minnesota (7) - Calvin Griffith, Howard Fox, Andy MacPhail, Terry Ryan, Bill Smith, Terry Ryan**, Thad Levine (50 - since 2016.) Levine started out working more on the business side of the front office for the Dodgers and then the Rockies. He then spent a decade as assistant GM to Jon Daniels in Texas before getting the Minnesota post.
Chicago (6) - Roland Hemond, Ken Harrelson, Larry Himes, Ron Schueler, Ken Williams, Rick Hahn (51 - since 2012.) Hahn has been with the White Sox since 2002, working for Kenny Williams, and succeeding to the top job when Williams moved upstairs.
Kansas City (6) - Joe Burke, John Schuerholz, Herk Robinson, Allard Baird, Dayton Moore, J.J. Picollo (51 - since 2021.) Picollo started out as a scout for the Braves, and when Dayton Moore left Atlanta to take the KC GM job, he brought Picollo with him. He became the GM last year when Moore went upstairs.
Detroit (8) - Jim Campbell, Bill Lajoie, Joe McDonald, Jerry Walker, Joe Klein, Randy Smith, Dave Dombrowski, Al Avila, (currently vacant)
Houston (10) - Tal Smith, Al Rosen, Dick Wagner, Bill Wood, Bob Watson, Gerry Hunsicker, Tim Purpura, Ed Wade, Jeff Luhnow, James Click (44 - since 2020.) Click started as an intern, and then had a long run in the Tampa Bay front office under Andrew Friedman, before Houston suddenly needed to replace Jeff Luhnow.
LA Angels (11) - Harry Dalton, Buzzie Bavasi, Mike Port, Dan O'Brien, Whitey Herzog, Bill Bavasi, Bill Stoneman, Tony Reagins, Jerry DiPoto, Billy Eppier, Perry Minasian (42 - since 2020.) He started out as a scout and assistant to the manager in Texas, and then in the scouting department for the Blue Jays, beginning under Ricciardi in 2009. He became the assistant GM in Atlanta under Copolella in 2017, where Alex Anthopoulos inherited him (again!) on taking over. He became the assistant GM in Atlanta, before getting the Angels' job.
Oakland (5) - Charles Finley, Billy Martin, Sandy Alderson, Billy Beane, David Forst (46 - since 2015.) Forst played a couple of years in independent ball, before getting a scouting job with Billy Beane's A's. He became the assistant GM in 2004, and when Beane went upstairs, took over as GM.
Seattle (11) - Dick Verlieb, Lou Gorman, Dan O'Brien, Hal Keller, Dick Balderson, Woody Woodward, Pat Gillick, Bill Bavasi, Lee Pelekoudas, Jack Zduriencik, Jerry DiPoto (54 - since 2015.) DiPoto is one of just a few GMs who actually played major league baseball, spending eight seasons as a relief pitcher for Cleveland, the Mets, and the Rockies. He worked in the scouting departments for Colorado and Boston before becoming part of the Josh Byrnes front office in Arizona. He then got the Angels GM job, where he spent some three years battling with Mike Scioscia before resigning in 2015. He took the Seattle job a few months later, making him one of five current GMs who has worked as some other team's GM.
Texas (8) - Dan O'Brien, Eddie Robinson, Joe Klein, Tom Grieve, Doug Melvin, John Hart, Jon Daniels, Chris Young (43 - since 2020.) Young played thirteen seasons in the majors - after his time as the second tallest player (tied, actually) in the game's history he doubtless became the tallest man in the MLB office. He went from there to the Texas GM post when Jon Daniels went upstairs.
Atlanta (8) - Bill Lucas, John Mullen, Bobby Cox, John Schuerholz, Frank Wren, John Hart, John Coppolella, Alex Anthopoulos (45 - since 2017.) As you probably know, he started as an Expos intern before joining Ricciardi's scouting department. After Toronto, he spent two years on Farhan Zaidi's team with the Dodgers before going to Atlanta.
Miami (5) - Dave Dombrowski, Larry Beinfest, Dan Jennings, Michael Hill, Kim Ng (53 - since 2020.) Ng began as an intern with the White Sox in 1991; she spent three years with the Yankees and Brian Cashman before going to the Dodgers in 2001. She went to the MLB office in 2011, and interviewed for at least five GM posts before getting the Miami job.
New York (11) - Joe McDonald, Frank Cashen, Al Harazin, Joe McIlvaine, Steve Phillips, Jim Duquette, Omar Minaya, Sandy Alderson, Brodie van Wagenen, Jared Porter, Billy Epper (46 - since 2021.) Eppier started as a scout for the Rockies before a ten year stint in Brian Cashman's New York office, mostly in the scouting department. He interviewed for several GM posts before getting the Angels job in 2015. He was fired after the 2020 season, and hired by the Mets a year later. He is the only current GM who was fired from the GM position by some other team, but being fired by the Angels would hardly qualify as a black mark on anyone's resume.
Philadelphia (9) - Paul Owens, Bill Giles, Woody Woodward, Lee Thomas, Ed Wade, Pat Gillick, Ruben Amaro Jr, Matt Klentak, Sam Fuld (40 - since 2020.) Fuld played in eight MLB seasons and went straight into the Phillies front office when he was through playing. He was mentioned repeatedly as a candidate for vacant managerial jobs, Toronto included, before getting the Phillies GM post.
Montreal/Washington (12) - Charlie Fox, John McHale, Murray Cook, Bill Stoneman, Dave Dombrowski, Dan Duquuette, Kevin Malone, Jim Beattie, Larry Beinfest, Omar Minaya, Jim Bowden, Mike Rizzo (61 - since 2009.) Rizzo had a short minor league career, spending three years in A ball. His post-playing career began as a scout, for Sox both White and Red, before becoming Arizona's director of scouting. When Josh Byrnes got the GM instead of him, he went to Washington as Jim Bowden's assistant GM and replaced him after Bowden's rather unexpected resignation.
Chicago (12) - Bob Kennedy, Herman Franks, Dallas Green, Jim Frey, Larry Himes, Ed Lynch, Andy MacPhail, Jim Hendry, Randy Bush, Theo Epstein, Jeff Hoyer, Carter Hawkins (38 - since 2021.) Hawkins began as a scout in Shapiro's Cleveland front office, moving up to assistant GM under Chris Antonetti, before getting the Cubs job
.
Cincinnati (11) - Bob Howsam, Dick Wagner, Bill Bergesch, Murray Cook, Bob Quinn, Jim Bowden, Dan O'Brien, Wayne Krivsky, Walt Jocketty, Dick Williams, Nick Krall (44 - since 2018.) After two years as an intern in Oakland, he joined the Reds in 2003 where's he's been a scout, operations director, and assistant GM before getting his current post.
Milwaukee (7) - Jim Baumer, Harry Dalton, Sal Bando, Dean Taylor, Doug Melvin, David Stearns, Matt Arnold (43 - since 2020.) Arnold spent a year working for the Dodgers and another year for Oakland (I'm guessing as an intern) before getting a real job in the Cincinnati scouting department. He then spent almost a decade in Andrew Friedman's Tampa Bay front office before going to Milwaukee.
Pittsburgh (8) - Harding Peterson, Syd Thrift, Larry Doughty, Ted Simmons, Cam Bonifay, Dave Littlefield, Neal Huntington, Ben Cherington (48 - since 2019.) Cherington started as an area scout for Boston and moved into Dan Dququette's front office and remained there under Theo Epstein. He succeeded Epstein in 2012, and resigned when Dave Dombrowski was hired as president of baseball operations in 2015. Something similar was happening in Toronto at the same time. Cherington spent a couple of years in the Jays front office before getting the Pittsburgh job.
St.Louis (8) - Bing Devine, John Claiborne, Whitey Herzog, Joe McDonald, Dal Maxvil, Walt Jocketty, John Mozeliak, Mike Girsch (45 - since 2017.) Girsch wrote an academic paper and sent it to John Mozeliak in St.Louis, who liked it and hired him. He worked in the baseball development side before becoming assistant GM in 2011, and succeeding Mozeliak in 2017.
Arizona (7) - Joe Garagiola Jr, Bob Gebhard, Josh Byrnes, Jerry DiPoto, Kevin Towers, Dave Stewart, Mike Hazen (46 - since 2016.) Hazen started in Cleveland, in Shapiro's scouting department, before going to the Red Sox in 2006. He rose to assistant GM, and then spent one year as Dombrowski's GM before taking the Arizona job.
Colorado (4) - Bob Gebhard, Dan O'Dowd, Jeff Bridich, Bill Schmidt (63 - since 2021.) The oldest current GM, Schmidt has spent his long career in scouting, beginning with Cincinnati in 1982, and also working for the Yankees and Cleveland before joining the Rockies in 1999. He had been vice-president of scouting since 2007.
Los Angeles (8) - Al Campanis, Fred Claire, Kevin Malone, Dan Evans, Paul DePodesta, Ned Colletti, Farhan Zaidi, Vacant, Brandon Gomes (38 - since 2022.) Gomes worked out of the Tampa Bay bullpen for five seasons, before his final release (by the Cubs in 2016.) He went from there to the Dodgers, where he worked in player development before becomng assistant GM in 2019. The Dodgers GM post was actually vacant at this time, and would remain so until Gomes was officially promoted this January. One assumes the job was being done by Gomes and Andrew Friedman, who was officially the President of Baseball Operations.
San Diego (8) - Bob Fontaine, Jack McKeon, Joe McIlvaine, Randy Smith, Kevin Towers, Jed Hoyer, Josh Byrnes, A.J. Preller (45 - since 2014.) Another one who started as an intern, for the Phillies. He worked for the Dodgers and for MLB before becoming a scouting director for Texas in 2004. He rose to assistant GM in Texas before getting the San Diego job.
San Francisco (7) - Spec Richardson, Tom Haller, Al Rosen, Bob Quinn, Brian Sabean, Bobby Evans, Scott Harris (since 2018.) He is probably the youngest of the current GMs - the Giants Media Guide doesn't give his age, but he got his BA from UCLA in 2009, so he's probably about 35. He started as an intern, for Washington and Cincinnati - his first real job was in baseball operations for the Cubs. He became their assistant GM in 2018, and got the Giants' GM job a year later.
** Ryan did two separate tours as the Twins GM (1994-2007 and 2011-2016)
I've been trying not to count the many, many interim GMs - Rob Antony in Minnesota, Mike Port in Boston, Tony LaCava in Toronto, John Rocco in New York, Tom Lasorda and Dave Wallace in Los Angeles, Joe Brown, Roy Smith, and Brian Graham in Pittsburgh, Bill Stoneman's second term in Anaheim - who filled the job of a departed predecessor while the team looked for a permanent replacement.
Anyway, the question originally on my mind can now be answered. The Blue Jays have indeed had remarkably little front office turnover. Only the Colorado Rockies, who didn't even get started until 1993, have had fewer people sit in the GM's chair. The only team that's been around for the entire period that has also had just five GMs is Oakland, thanks mostly to the long tenures of Sandy Alderson and Billy Beane.
Alderson, of course, is a very significant figure in the evolution of the GM's position. He was a lawyer with no baseball background at all - he worked for Roy Eisenhardt's law firm, and when Eisenhardt bought the A's, Alderson came along as general counsel. He eventually got to hire another lawyer, a guy named LaRussa, to manage the team on the field. Alderson demonstrated quite clearly that a GM didn't need to have played the game in order to run a team. One would think that had already been proved fairly conclusively by Ed Barrow himself, but never mind. Alderson's long and successful tenure (1983-98) in Oakland pretty much settled the matter. You find the same types of people holding GM positions today that you did in 2008.
Just seven of today's GMs actually played pro ball. Only four of them actually played in the majors - DiPoto, Young, Fuld, Gomes. The other three are Atkins, Forst, and Rizzo.This was already much the case in 2008, when just eight of the GMs in place had played pro ball. They were Beane and Williams, who had played in the majors, as well as Ricciardi, Wren, Minaya, Towers, Gillick, and Melvin.
Just five of the current GMs are doing the job for their second team,
and four of them - DiPoto, Anthopoulos, Cherington, Hazen - chose to
leave their first team, generally as part of a struggle over control. That's an old story indeed - it's why Branch Rickey left the Dodgers. As mentioned, Eppier is the only current GM who was fired by one team (Angels)
and hired by another (Mets.) Back in 2008, it was likewise just five men who had been GMs elsewhere: MacPhail, Dombrowski, Gillick, Wren, and Bowden. The latter two were the only ones who had been fired from a previous GM posting.
Nine of today's GMs are doing this job for the only ML team they have ever worked for: This group consists of Cashman, Bendix, Chernoff, Hahn, Forst, Young, Fuld, Girsch, and Gomes. The same was pretty much true in 2008, when seven GMs had only ever worked for one team: Beane, Williams, Smith, Cashman, Friedman, Shapiro, and Reagins.
By my count, eleven current GMs (Elias, Picollo, Minasian, Forst, DiPoto, Eppier, Rizzo, Hawkins, Cherington, Hazen, Schmidt) began their careers in the scouting departments and another eleven (Cashman, Bendix, O'Holloran, Chernoff, Click, Anthopoulos, Ng, Krall, Arnold, Preller, Harris) started out as interns. Three (Atkins, Fuld, Gomes - all former pro players) started out in player development, and two (Levine, Hahn) seemed to come from the business side of the operation. The cases of Chris Young and Mike Girsch seem unique.
And this is Brian Cashman's twenty-fifth season as the Yankees' GM. You will recall that the longest term of any team's GM was that of Ed Barrow, the first Yankees GM. Barrow did the job for twenty-six years; Cashman is now just one more year from matching that. He's become a figure of considerable historical significance.
