Jimmie Lee Solomon
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Jimmie Lee Solomon is the current Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations in Major League Baseball.
Solomon, who has a law degree from Harvard and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College, joined MLB in 1991, as Director of Minor League Operations. He subsequently was promoted to Executive Director of Minor League Operations and then to Senior VP of Baseball Operations. Solomon oversaw major, minor and international baseball operations; the MLB scouting bureau, the Arizona fall league, and numerous special projects, including the launching of the MLB Youth Academy at Compton College, California.
The All-Star Futures Game was conceived by Solomon. Looking for an event to showcase the minor leagues and round out the All-Star week festivities, Solomon looked at the National Basketball Association rookie game and the National Football League's rookie flag football game and thought "Why don't we try it?" Ironically, when he was at Dartmouth, Solomon never performed on the baseball diamond, but excelled on the football field and was named All-Ivy as a sprinter.
Since 1999, the Futures Game has become a big event for teams' player development departments, a coveted resume filler for players and programming for ESPN2. Rosters for the Futures Game are selected by Baseball America magazine, in conjunction with MLB and the 30 clubs. Every organization is represented, with no more than two players from any organization. In 2003, Solomon was included in the Sports Illustrated's list of 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports.
Solomon was named Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations on June 1, 2005. Commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement in a press release. As executive VP, Solomon will now be responsible for such additional areas as on-field discipline, security, and facility management.
Solomon's biggest project is the construction of baseball academies in urban areas. Currently there are academies in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and throughout Latin America. This is where young Latino prospects are discovered and trained. Seeing the level of success that Latinos are experiencing in baseball, Solomon decided to bring the academies to United States and is currently working with major league teams, encouraging them to build academies in large American cities to reintroduce baseball to urban children.
