Dave Dombrowski
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Dombrowski (born July 27, 1956) is the current president, CEO, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of American Major League Baseball.
During Dombrowski's regime, the Tigers have experienced a remarkable baseball renaissance.
The 2003 club lost an American League record 119 games, only one fewer loss than the 1962 New York Mets. But, only three years later, the 2006 Tigers, behind manager Jim Leyland, won their first AL pennant since 1984. Along the way, they won the AL wild card, defeated the favored New York Yankees in four games in the division series, then swept the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series. However, they were defeated in five games by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 World Series.
In addition to bringing Leyland out of semi-retirement, Dombrowski presided over the acquisition and development of a corps of hard-throwing young pitchers, and signed free agents such as catcher Ivan Rodriguez and outfielder Magglio Ordoñez, whose ninth-inning home run in ALCS Game 4 catapulted Detroit to the pennant.
Dombrowski briefly attended Cornell before moving on to Western Michigan University, where he earned a degree in Business Administration. He began his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1978. He moved up the ladder to assistant general manager by his late 20s, but was purged during Ken Harrelson's unsuccessful one-year reign (1986) as the Chisox' front-office boss. But the firing proved to be a blessing. Dombrowski joined the Montreal Expos front office as director of player development for the 1987 season, and on July 5, 1988, he became, at age 31, Montreal's general manager — the youngest in MLB at the time.
Dombrowski built up the Expos' farm system during his term. The team enjoyed .500 or better seasons from 1988-90 but struggled on the field in 1991. Concurrently, the National League expanded to 12 teams, with two new franchises to begin play in 1993. One of those teams, the Florida Marlins, recruited Dombrowski to become its first general manager; he was appointed on September 19, 1991.
He would spend more than a decade in Miami working under owners H. Wayne Huizenga and John W. Henry. Although he built a sound minor league system, the Marlins, with Leyland as their manager, achieved their first great success — the 1997 NL pennant and world championship — with a team composed of many high-salaried players signed as free agents. The following year, in 1998, Dombrowski presided over Huizenga's mandated fire sale of those veteran players, and the Marlins sank into a half-decade of obscurity.
Nevertheless, the Marlins scouted and developed young players and were building a solid foundation when Henry sold the club in 2001 to purchase the Boston Red Sox. At the same time, Dombrowski was hired as president/CEO of the rebuilding Tigers by owner Mike Ilitch. He initially kept incumbent general manager Randy Smith in place, but when Detroit lost 106 games in 2002, Dombrowski relieved Smith of his duties and assumed the GM role as well.
He is marrried to Karie Ross who was a ESPN reporter from 1988 to 1990. They have two children. [1]
[edit] External link
| Preceded by Bill Stoneman |
Montreal Expos General Manager 1987–1991 |
Succeeded by Dan Duquette |
| Preceded by first general manager |
Florida Marlins General Manager 1991–2001 |
Succeeded by Larry Beinfest |
| Preceded by Randy Smith |
Detroit Tigers General Manager 2002– |
Succeeded by incumbent |
