Lou Gorman

James Gerald "Lou" Gorman (February 18, 1929 – April 1, 2011)

Gorman joined the Baltimore Orioles' Major League front office in 1964 as assistant farm system director, working under Harry Dalton. He was promoted to director of player development in 1966, when the Orioles won their first World Series championship. In 1968, Gorman became the first farm system director in the history of the Kansas City Royals, where he eventually also assumed control of the team's scouting department. For his efforts, he was promoted to vice president in 1973 and assistant general manager in 1976.

But he soon departed for a new expansion team when he was appointed director of baseball operations (in effect, chief baseball officer) of the

After building the Seattle organization from scratch, he returned to the East Coast as vice president, player personnel, of the New York Mets in 1980. Working under Mets' GM Frank Cashen, with whom Gorman served with the Orioles, he helped lay the foundation for the Mets' 1986 World Series championship—achieved at the expense of his next team, the Red Sox.

Red Sox general manager

In the months preceding the

Though the team made it back to the playoffs in 1988 and 1990, it never got any closer to a championship than it had in 1986. Gorman made several key trades, such as picking up Nick Esasky and Rob Murphy from Cincinnati and getting closer Lee Smith for World Series goat Schiraldi and pitcher Al Nipper, but he made mistakes as well. It was Gorman who traded away future All-Stars Jeff Bagwell, Curt Schilling, and Brady Anderson in pennant-stretch deals. The Boston farm system, which had produced players such as Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, Jody Reed and Todd Benzinger early in Gorman's tenure, developed everyday players such as Mo Vaughn, John Valentin, Aaron Sele, Tim Naehring, Carlos Quintana and Scott Hatteberg in the early 1990s, but the flow of talent was not enough to keep the club at the forefront of its division. The Red Sox were unable to retain free agents Bruce Hurst, Esasky and Mike Boddicker (a front-line starting pitcher acquired for Schilling and Brady Anderson in 1988), and when the team returned to the free agent marketplace after the 1989 season, catcher Tony Peña and pitchers Jeff Reardon and Danny Darwin approached expectations, while high-profile signings Jack Clark, Frank Viola and Matt Young were major disappointments.

The Red Sox won another

After 1990, the Red Sox faded from contention. They finished a distant second in 1991, and in 1992 collapsed all the way to last place for the first time in 60 years. After another losing campaign in 1993, wholesale changes were made in the Red Sox front office. Gorman was relieved of his general manager responsibilities on November 10, becoming senior vice president of baseball operations.^[12] Two weeks later, John Harrington, who as executive director of the JRY Trust was the team's managing general partner, bought out minority general partner Sullivan to assume full control. Harrington then hired Montreal Expos general manager Dan Duquette (another native New Englander) as Gorman's permanent successor in February 1994.

In his nine full seasons as general manager, 1985 through 1993, the Red Sox compiled a 751–706 (.515)

Late career

Gorman was a senior vice president, then executive vice president, in the Red Sox' baseball operations department through 1996.^[13] He also served as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players through financial and medical difficulties. In his later years, Gorman was the chairman of the board of the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and was instrumental to the team.

After a period of declining health, Gorman died at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, at age 82 on the Opening Day of the Red Sox' 2011 season.^[3] Mayor Thomas Menino declared April 8, 2011, the day of the home opener at Fenway Park, as Lou Gorman Day in Boston. The Red Sox also paid tribute to Gorman during the game that afternoon.

Legacy

Gorman was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, the Stonehill College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989,^[14] the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002,^[15] and the Newport Gulls Hall of Fame in 2010.^[16]

In September 2011, the Red Sox established an annual

• Gorman, Lou (2005). One Pitch from Glory: A Decade of Running the Red Sox. foreword by
  ISBN 1-59670-067-X
  .
• Gorman, Lou (2007). High and Inside: My Life in the Front Offices of Baseball.
  ISBN 978-0786431632
  .