Joe McDonald (baseball executive)

Joe McDonald is a former front office executive in American Major League Baseball.

He played prominent roles in the New York Mets organization in his career there between 1965 and 1980. McDonald was the Mets' Administrative Secretary, Minor League Clubs, where he dealt with minor league operations in 1965 and 1966. In 1967, he was the Mets' Director of Scouting. In 1968, he moved up and became the Mets' Director of Minor League Operations, and he stayed in that position until 1971. In 1972, he served as the Mets' Director of Player Development Operations. In 1973, he again became the Mets' Director of Minor League Operations, and he stayed in that position until October, 1974. In October, 1974, he was promoted to general manager. He was their general manager until 1978. In 1979, he became the Mets' Vice President and also worked as an assistant general manager. He stayed in that position until he was fired on February 21, 1980.

In 1981, he became the St. Louis Cardinals Executive Assistant, where he served as an assistant general manager to Whitey Herzog, the Cards' GM and field manager. McDonald and Herzog had worked closely together in the Mets' farm system from 1966-72. He was assistant GM in St. Louis until April 10, 1982, when he became the Cardinals' general manager, thus enabling Herzog to focus on his on-field responsibilities. McDonald resigned from that post on January 3, 1985.

In 1987, he became the Detroit Tigers' Director of Player Development (he also served as vice president). He stayed in that position until 1991, when he became a Senior Vice President and also a general manager. He stayed in that position until 1992. Out of the game for several years, by 2005 he had returned to baseball as a scout at the professional level for the Boston Red Sox, based in Lakeland, Florida. [Boston Red Sox 2007 Media Guide]

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