It didn’t take long for the jokes to start flying. My favorite was something about the Boston Red Sox not playing any night games next year because they’d be after the general manager’s bedtime.
Of course, when the Red Sox promoted Theo Epstein to general manager, it was no joke. The team’s owners obviously thought long and hard before making the 28-year-old whiz kid the youngest general manager in Major League Baseball history.
But when they did, the move became fodder for criticism in newspaper columns, on talk radio and most certainly around the proverbial water cooler.
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I don’t see the controversy.
Major League Baseball is a business – a big money business. And Epstein will be expected to deliver results, just like any top manager in corporate America. This isn’t a government job. There’s no labor union protection here. Epstein’s got a three-year deal and if he doesn’t cut it, he’ll become another small piece of Red Sox history.
It is a very real part of following the Red Sox to think negatively – to believe that only bad things are inevitably going to happen. Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent and Bill Buckner will do that to a person. But I also sense a jealousy among those who can’t accept that a 28-year-old might just be capable of turning our beloved Red Sox from whiners into winners.
Some critics are undoubtedly rechecking their own resumes, looking to see what rung of the ladder they had reached before turning 30. Maybe they are thinking they could have had that corner office if they had only worked harder – been just a bit more focused. Maybe Theo Epstein’s success makes them uncomfortable.
Epstein’s resume is indeed impressive.
He was born in New York, but grew up in Brookline, Mass., not far from Fenway Park. He went to Yale. Even in college, he knew enough to take things seriously, obtaining an internship in 1992 with the Baltimore Orioles.
While with the Orioles Epstein did something important. He impressed the right people. One of them is Larry Lucchino, who was working for the Orioles at the time, and who would later bring Epstein to work with him as part of the management team with San Diego, and more recently, with the Red Sox.
Lucchino became the president and CEO of the Red Sox when ownership of the team changed hands last year. He doesn’t look at Epstein and see a kid. He sees talent.
In a recent interview with MLB.com, Lucchino said: “We’ve selected him for his intellect. We’ve selected him for his character. We’ve selected him for his passion for baseball, his knowledge and history and passion for the Red Sox…And for the ability to bring people together in new and innovative ways.”
The Red Sox first tapped Epstein last March, hiring him as an assistant general manager. The talk was that he would eventually ascend to the general manager role. Maybe a few years down the road.
But then, a couple of things worked in his favor. For one, someone else didn’t accept the job first. But more importantly, Epstein did the same thing he had done back in Baltimore a decade ago. Given an opportunity, he worked hard and demonstrated to those around him that he could take on more.
John W. Henry is the Red Sox principal owner. This is how he described Epstein; “He has been a constant source of ideas, energy and intelligence for us since he came home to Boston…He joins a select group of young and highly talented general managers in today’s game who are revolutionizing baseball. We believe he will excel from day one.”
The Red Sox missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year last season. They haven’t won a World Series in 85 years.
Theo Epstein has been described as a Red Sox fan. So he knows that one thing – and only one thing – will make him a true success. He must bring a World Series championship to Boston. His predecessors learned that the hard way.
Dan Duquette was a Massachusetts guy, widely considered a baseball genius. But the teams he assembled never performed up to expectations and he was ultimately banished. Before Duquette, Lou Gorman, a Rhode Islander, toiled as the Red Sox general manager from 1984 to 1993.
Gorman came closer to reaching that Holy Grail than anyone, but his tenure is remembered only for what might have been – for a ball bouncing unimpeded through Bill Buckner’s wobbly legs.
So forget that Theo Epstein is 28. There is no controversy in that. He should not be fodder for talk radio trash talk or water cooler put-downs. He should he admired for making the most of his opportunities.
So where’s the controversy?
Is there no one under the age of 30 at your company who you would consider for a top management position? If there isn’t, there is something drastically wrong with your company.
