John Harrington (Red Sox CEO)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Harrington was the former CEO of the Boston Red Sox. He graduated from Boston College in 1957, and received his MBA in 1966. He eventually became an accounting professor at BC until 1970, where he was hired by Joe Cronin, president of the American League, to be the league's controller. After Cronin retired, Harrington was hired by Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey as treasurer of the Sox. Yawkey died in 1976 and was eventually replaced by his wife Jean in a chaotic process. Harrington left the team to work for an insurance company, but eventually returned to become the CEO in 1981, after poor management had caused free agents Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk to sign with other teams.

After Jean Yawkey's death in 1992, as trustee of the JRY Trust, Harrington arranged for the Trust to buy out the shares of managing partner Haywood Sullivan. He completely overhauled the front office, bringing in general manager Dan Duquette from the Montreal Expos. During this time, the front office was widely [[viewed as secretive and unfriendly towards the media.