Dan Duquette

Duquette in 2011.

Daniel F. Duquette (born May 26, 1958) was the General Manager of the Montreal Expos from September 1991 through January 1994, for the Boston Red Sox from 1994 through March 2002, and is currently the General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles. He was also a founding member of the Israel Baseball League in 2007.

Duquette has overseen quick turnarounds during his tenure as GM of the Expos, Red Sox, and Orioles, expanding fan interest in all three markets. As farm system director of the Expos from 1987 to 1991, Duquette helped build the player development operations.

Early life

A native of Dalton, Massachusetts, Duquette attended Amherst College, where he was a catcher on the varsity baseball team.

Executive career

Early career

Duquette got his start in professional baseball as a scouting assistant with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1980 after a fellow Amherst alumnus, Harry Dalton, the Milwaukee general manager, saw his letter seeking employment in the game.[1]

Montreal Expos

In 1987 he became Montreal's director of player development. In his three years in that role, the Expos drafted Marquis Grissom, Cliff Floyd and Rondell White and signed Vladimir Guerrero, Javier Vázquez, Orlando Cabrera and many other major leaguers. Duquette replaced Dave Dombrowski as Expos' GM on September 19, 1991. Under Duquette the Expos acquired elite pitchers Ken Hill, John Wetteland, Jeff Shaw and traded for Pedro Martínez from the Dodgers for second baseman Delino DeShields. Duquette is credited with building the 1994 Expos team, which had the best record in baseball at the time of the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike.[2][3]

Boston Red Sox

Duquette became the GM of his hometown Red Sox and built a baseball operations department which has allowed the Red Sox to be the only team in MLB to set attendance and revenue records every year since 1998.[4]

The Red Sox went 656-574 in the eight seasons under Duquette, winning the AL East once and finishing 2nd behind the Yankees five other seasons. The Red Sox won the AL East pennant in 1995 before bowing to the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS and made the playoffs as a wild-card in 1998 and 1999, only to lose to the Cleveland Indians again in the ALDS and the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Under Duquette, the Red Sox made strides in improving their history of poor race relations as an organization in the hiring of both coaching and administrative personnel with minority candidates. The minor league facilities and coaching availability were upgraded at every level during his tenure, and Red Sox favorites such as Nomar Garciaparra were drafted into the system. Other notable draftees in his Red Sox term were future MLB shortstops David Eckstein, Adam Everett and Hanley Ramírez as well as second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

In 1996, Duquette signed Jamie Moyer to a free agent contract and then traded him to Seattle for outfielder Darren Bragg when manager Kevin Kennedy didn't pitch him much and Moyer expressed he didn't like playing in Boston. Despite being only 66-77 at the time of that trade, Moyer went on to win 139 games in just over 9 seasons with the Mariners and achieved over 250 wins in his career. Duquette is also famously known for his quote about Roger Clemens in which he said that "we had hoped to keep him in Boston during the twilight of his career" in 1996 after Clemens left as a free agent following a 39-40 record over his last four seasons pitching in Boston.[5] Clemens would go on to win the Cy Young Award and the pitching Triple Crown in both of the next two seasons. The free agency losses of Clemens and first baseman Mo Vaughn were major points of discontent amongst some Red Sox fans with regards to Duquette. He also did not resign Jose Canseco or Mike Greenwell. At present, Clemens remains under an indictment for lying to Congress that he used performance enhancing drugs (PED's) beginning in the period immediately following his departure from Boston to Toronto.

Duquette is also noted for several major acquisitions that would ultimately play a part in the Red Sox 2004 World Championship, including acquiring knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in 1995, Pedro Martínez in 1997 from Montreal, the 1997 trade with Seattle for both pitcher Derek Lowe and All-Star catcher Jason Varitek the free agent signings of Manny Ramírez in 2000 and Johnny Damon in December 2001 and the Sox traded over 35 players in Duquette's farm system.

He was dismissed from his general manager post in 2002 when John W. Henry bought the team from the JRY Trust, headed by John Harrington.[6]

After Boston

After being fired by the Red Sox, Duquette started a sports academy for children in Hinsdale, Massachusetts. The academy is described by its website as "a sports training center for boys and girls ages 8–18 who are interested in learning baseball, softball, basketball and life skills from distinguished high school, college and professional coaches."

Duquette worked to start the Israel Baseball League after being appointed director of baseball operations, but the league had financial difficulties and folded in 2008 after one season. He had a role in a Western Massachusetts community theatre production of Damn Yankees.

Duquette is also past president and owner of the Pittsfield Dukes, a summer collegiate baseball team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. He purchased the team, formerly known as the Thread City Tides of Willimantic, Connecticut, after the 2003 season, and moved the team to his Dan Duquette Sports Academy in Hinsdale. After negotiating a deal with the city of Pittsfield, he moved the franchise again in 2005 to historic Nokona Stadium at Wahconah Park. In the fall of 2008, Duquette partnered with Chairman Buddy Lewis and CEO Jerry O'Connor from Nokona and Terry Allvord, founder of the U.S. Military All-Stars "Red, White and Blue Tour" to acquire a new Can-Am independent professional team called the American Defenders of New Hampshire and rename his NECBL team the "Pittsfield American Defenders" featuring top collegiate prospects alongside players currently enrolled at service academies and military institutions in the United States.

Baltimore Orioles

Duquette was introduced as the Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles on November 8, 2011. He becomes the 14th top executive in Orioles history and the eighth under Peter Angelos' ownership.[7] Along with manager Buck Showalter, many credit Duquette as being a major factor behind the Orioles' successful 2012 season, where the team returned to the postseason after having previously endured 14 straight losing seasons.

Personal

Duquette's cousin, Jim Duquette, is a former executive of the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets. His other cousin, Pat Duquette (Jim's brother), is the head men's basketball coach at UMass Lowell.

Honors

Duquette was twice named the Major League Baseball Executive of the Year by the Sporting News. He first won in 1992 with the Expos and then later in 2014 with the Orioles. [8] He was also honored by the Boston Baseball Writers Association in 1995 with the Red Sox.

References

  1. ↑ The New York Times – For Duquette, a Chance and a Challenge
  2. ↑ Markus, Don (November 6, 2011). "Orioles hire Dan Duquette as general manager". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ Sheinin, Dave (November 8, 2011). "New GM Duquette eager to turn around Baltimore Orioles". Washington Post. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ Attendance figures and records of all Major League Ballparks from 1890 to present
  5. ↑ Silverman, Michael. Baseball END OF AN ERA Boston Herald Retrieved on February 14, 2008
  6. ↑ New Owners of Red Sox Quickly Fire Duquette New York Times Retrieved on December 10, 2007
  7. ↑ Connolly, Dan (November 8, 2011). "Duquette says he's up to challenge of turning around Orioles". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  8. ↑ Sporting News Executive of the Year Baseball Almanac Retrieved on December 11, 2007

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Dave Dombrowski		 Montreal Expos General Manager
1991–1994 		Succeeded by
Kevin Malone
Preceded by
Andy MacPhail		 Baltimore Orioles General Manager
2011– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by
Andy MacPhail		 Sporting News Major League Baseball Executive of the Year
1992 		Succeeded by
Lee Thomas