Mark Shapiro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Shapiro enters his 6th season as the Executive Vice President & General Manager of the Cleveland Indians and his 16th season overall with the organization. He was elevated to the position in November 2001.

The Baltimore, MD, native attended Gilman School, graduating in 1985. He then played 4 years of football for the Princeton University Tigers, graduating in 1989 with a degree in history. Following his graduation from Princeton he worked in the real estate development industry in Southern California before latching on with the Tribe in '92.

Shapiro's tenure with the Cleveland Indians began in January 1992 as an assistant in Baseball Operations. He was promoted to Assistant Director of Minor League Operations the following January (1993) where he assisted in all aspects of the Tribes farm system, including: player development, minor league player programs, staffing, and player movement. During this time Shapiro also played a key role in the conception and implementation of the Indians widely recognized long-term contract strategy of the early 1990s, which locked up the Tribe's core players to ensure stability for the organization.

Prior to becoming General Manager, 40-year old Shapiro spent three seasons from 1999-2001 as Vice President, Baseball Operations/Assistant General Manager after spending five seasons as the Tribe's Director of Minor League Operations from 1994-98.

During his tenure as Director of Minor League Operations Shapiro oversaw all aspects of the Tribe's player development system and Latin American operations. He implemented the Winter Development Program, now in its 12th year, and installed a system of individual player plans for every Tribe minor leaguer in the farm system. The system he helped to create and oversaw is based on a holistic philosophy of development, providing cutting edge resources to the Indian's players in the mental, physical and fundamental domains.

The current direction and foundation of the ballclub was conceived in June 2002 when Shapiro and his staff acted quickly to replenish an organization that was coming off a series of 6 division titles in 7 years and 8 straight winning seasons from 1994-2001. The run of success enjoyed in the 1990s equated to lower and fewer selections in the Amateur Draft and was sustained by trading numerous upper level prospects for Major League ready talent. These trades and lower picks came to a glaring head in 2002 as Shapiro and his staff acted quickly and aggressively to hasten the club’s return to contention.

The reconstruction officially began in June of 2002 when Shapiro acquired Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore & Brandon Phillips from the Montreal Expos in exchange for Bartolo Colon after the 2002 club posted a record of 25-40 from April 16 to June 26 after an 11-1 start. Shapiro and his staff then went on to infuse the upper levels of the organization with talented players, including Travis Hafner, through a series of trades and free agent signings. Under Shapiro’s tenure as General Manager or Assistant GM the Indians have added the likes of Sizemore, Hafner, Lee, Jake Westbrook, Barfield, Andy Marte & Shin-Soo Choo via trade and since 1998 have added players like C.C. Sabathia, Jeremy Sowers, Brian Slocum, Trevor Crower and Adam Miller through the First-Year Player Draft.

During Mark’s five seasons as General Manager he has re-constructed the Major League club and revitalized the Player Development System through a series of shrewd trades, strong drafts and resourceful free agent signings. The fruits of Shapiro’s labor paid off in the form of double digit win increases in 2004 (68 to 80 wins) and 2005 (80 to 93 wins) as the Indians became only the 4th team since 1970 to accomplish consecutive double digit win increases in full, 162-game seasons. The last Indians teams to record consecutive double digit win increases came from 1946-48. The 93 wins in 2005 tied for the 8th highest win total in Cleveland Indians franchise history. Following the 2005 season both the Sporting News and Baseball America named Shapiro Executive of the Year.

Shapiro acted quickly in the off-season of 2006-07 to address the various needs of a club that went 78-84 and finished in 4th place in the American League Central, the best division in baseball that sported three 90-win teams in 2006. Shapiro immediately addressed a bullpen that sported a 4.73 ERA and 23 blown saves in 2006 by adding three veteran relievers (Keith Foulke, Joe Borowski, Roberto Hernandez) that own a combined 596 Major League saves. He also added David Dellucci, Trot Nixon & Josh Barfield into an already potent existing line-up that should give Indians fans reason for optimism for the foreseeable future.

As Executive Vice President and General Manager he is responsible for all of the day-to-day operations of the major league club and 40-man roster, including the initiation and implementation of all trades, contract extensions and free agent acquisitions. Mark also oversees the club’s talent-rich player development and scouting operations departments headed, respectively, by Ross Atkins and John Mirabelli. In 2006 the Indians player development system posted the 5th best record among all 30 Major League organizations as A Kinston won the Carolina League title for the 2nd time in 3 years and AA Akron fell in the Eastern League finals. After the season the Cleveland Indians organization was named “Organization of the Year” by TOPPS for the first time ever.

Shapiro lives in Bentleyville with his wife, Lissa Bockrath, a talented Cleveland-based artist. The couple has a son, Caden (8/28/02), and a daughter, Sierra (8/2/04). Mark was named to the elite “40 under 40” by Sports Business Journal recognizing the top 40 sports executives under the age of 40 and was on Baseball America’s “Ten to Watch” list entering the 2007 season. His father, Ron, represents major and minor league baseball players and has authored a book on negotiation entitled "The Power of Nice." His brother-in-law, Eric Mangini, is the Head Coach of the New York Jets.