Dave Dombrowski

Dave Dombrowski
Dombrowski in 2011.
Born	July 27, 1956 (1956-07-27) (age 55)
Alma mater	Western Michigan University
Occupation	President, CEO, general manager
Years active	1978–present
Employer	Detroit Tigers
Spouse	Karie Dombrowski
Children	Darbi, Landon

David Dombrowski (born July 27, 1956) is the current president, CEO, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.

Baseball career

Chicago White Sox

Dombrowski began his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1978, as an administrative assistant in their minor league organization.^[1] He moved up the ladder to assistant general manager to Hemond by his late 20s, but was purged during Ken Harrelson's one-year reign in 1986 as the White Sox front-office boss.

Montreal Expos

Dombrowski joined the Montreal Expos front office as director of player development for the 1987 season under Bill Stoneman, and on July 5, 1988, he became, at age 31, Montreal's general manager—the youngest in MLB at the time.^[2]

Dombrowski built up the Expos farm system during his term.^{[citation needed]} The team enjoyed .500 or better seasons from 1988–90 but struggled on the field in 1991.^{[citation needed]} Concurrently, the National League expanded to 14 teams, with two new franchises to begin play in 1993. One of those teams, the Florida Marlins, recruited Dombrowski to become its first general manager; he was appointed on September 19, 1991.

Florida Marlins

Dombrowski spent more than a decade in Miami, working under owners H. Wayne Huizenga and John W. Henry. Although he built a sound minor league system, the Marlins, with Jim Leyland as their manager, achieved their first great success—the 1997 NL pennant and world championship—with a team composed of many high-salaried players signed as free agents.^{[citation needed]} The following year, Dombrowski presided over Huizenga's mandated fire sale of those veteran players, and the Marlins sank into a half-decade of obscurity.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, the Marlins managed to rebuild behind a nucleus of young players when Henry sold the club in 2001 to purchase the Boston Red Sox. In 2003 the Marlins, consisting chiefly of players Dombrowski had acquired,^{[citation needed]} won the World Series.

Detroit Tigers

Dombrowski watches a West Michigan Whitecaps game at Fifth Third Ballpark, 2010.

Prior to the 2002 season, Dombrowski was hired as president and chief executive officer of the rebuilding Tigers by owner Mike Ilitch. As president, Dombrowski was expected to oversee the business side of the club, including all senior staff, but was not necessarily going to be involved in matters of player personnel. Dombrowski initially kept incumbent general manager Randy Smith in place, but when Detroit lost its first six games in 2002, Dombrowski relieved Smith of his duties and assumed the GM role as well.^[3] He was the first person to act as both president and GM with the Tigers since Jim Campbell held both titles from 1978–1983.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, the Tigers lost an American League-record 119 games, one fewer loss than the MLB record set by the 1962 New York Mets.^{[citation needed]} Three years later, the 2006 Tigers, led by manager Leyland, won their first AL pennant since their championship season of 1984. Along the way, they won the AL wild card, defeated the favored^{[citation needed]} New York Yankees in four games in the division series, then swept the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series. In the 2006 World Series, they were defeated in five games by the St. Louis Cardinals.

In addition to bringing Leyland out of semi-retirement,^{[citation needed]} Dombrowski presided over the acquisition and development of a corps of hard-throwing young pitchers,^{[citation needed]} and signed free agents such as catcher Iván Rodríguez, left-handed pitcher Kenny Rogers, and outfielder Magglio Ordóñez.

Personal life

Dombrowski briefly attended Cornell University before transferring to Western Michigan University, where he earned a degree in business administration.^[1]

He is married to Karie Dombrowski, who worked as an ESPN reporter from 1988 to 1990. They have two children, Landon and Darbi.^[1]

Dave grew up in Palos Heights, IL, attended Crab Orchard Jr. High School and graduated from H.L. Richards H.S. in Oak Lawn, IL.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "David Dombrowski". mlb.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/60ZSNYD4k. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
2. ^ Lawson, Earl (23 July 1988). "Los Angeles amazes Lasorda". Ocala Star-Banner: p. 4D. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lyIVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6AYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3656,2585038&dq=baseball+dave-dombrowski&hl=en. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
3. ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CO&s_site=charlotte&p_multi=CO&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F2CFA3721602129&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

External links

• BaseballAmerica.com career profile

Preceded by Bill Stoneman	Montreal Expos general manager 1987–1991	Succeeded by Dan Duquette
Preceded by First general manager	Florida Marlins general manager 1991–2001	Succeeded by Larry Beinfest
Preceded by Don Smiley	Florida Marlins president 2000–2001	Succeeded by David Samson
Preceded by Mike Ilitch	Detroit Tigers president 2001–present	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Randy Smith	Detroit Tigers general manager 2002–present	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
Name	Dombrowski, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 27, 1956
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death