Brian Graham

"For the Scottish footballer, see Brian Graham (footballer)"

Brian Graham (born April 9 1960 in San Diego, California) is a former minor league baseball player, coach and manager and major league coach for the Cleveland Indians. He is currently the special assignment coach for the minor leagues for the Baltimore Orioles. [ [http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/roch/blog/2007/10/the_new_hires.html baltimoresun.com - Roch Around the Clock: The new hires ] ]

College

Graham attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he excelled at both baseball and football. When he finished his collegiate career, Graham held school records for hits, stolen bases, and runs. [ [http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/archive/ucla-m-basebl-careerrecords.html UCLA Bruins - Baseball ] ] In football, Graham was a member of the 1978 Fiesta Bowl team. [ [http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/pit/player_dev.pdf 2007-development:2006-development.qxd.qxd ] ] In 1996, he was inducted into the school's Baseball Hall of Fame. Graham also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in behavioral science from National University in San Diego.

Minor league career

In 1982, Graham was chosen in the 4th round of the 1982 draft by the Oakland Athletics, [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?Pos=OF&year_ID=1982&draft_type=junreg Baseball Draft: 1982 Picks in the June Draft, with a listed position of OF - Baseball-Reference.com ] ] and he played in the minor league systems of Oakland, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Detroit Tigers, and the Cleveland Indians over the next five years as a second baseman.

Coaching/managing

In nine seasons as a minor league manager in the Cleveland Indians organization, Graham's teams finished above .500 each year, compiling a 704-491 (.589) record. Graham managed eight consecutive playoff teams. He was named the Carolina League's Manager of the Year in 1991 while leading the Kinston Indians to a championship, the “Best Managerial Prospect” by Eastern League managers and Baseball America in 1993 and Minor League Manager of the Year by USA Today's Baseball Weekly in 1996 while with the Buffalo Bisons. Graham has also managed in the Dominican Republic Winter League for Aguilas (1991) and has also coached and managed in the Arizona Fall League (1993-94). [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20011205031850/http://www.post-gazette.com/pirates/20011204pirates1204p3.asp Graham fills Pirates post as minor-league director ] ] [ [http://www2.geisinger.org/professionals/news/2006/pirates.html Pirates sports med ] ]

Graham was a major league coach with the Cleveland Indians in 1998 and 1999 and with the Baltimore Orioles in 2000. Graham spent the 2001 season as the Field Coordinator for the Florida Marlins.

Major league executive

Graham was signed to the Pirates on December 3, 2001 and eventually rose to be the senior director for player development. In that position, he coordinated instruction and oversaw the signing of free agents, staffing, budgets, player movement, affiliate relationships and the Latin American field operations. In addition, he installed and implemented a system of individual player plans which provided instruction and resources to insure the individual development of every Pirate player. Under Graham, the Pirates minor league teams finished with a combined winning percentage above .500 in four of his five seasons. In 2002, the Pirates were honored as the Topps' Baseball “Organization of the Year.”

On September 7, 2007, he was appointed interim General Manager of the Pirates after the dismissal of Dave Littlefield. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07250/815475-100.stm Pirates fire GM Littlefield; interim replacement is Graham ] ] On October 5, 2007, he was fired along with manager Jim Tracy, scouting director Ed Creech, and director of baseball operations Jon Mercurio. [ [http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071005&content_id=2251628&vkey=news_pit&fext=.jsp&c_id=pit The Official Site of The Pittsburgh Pirates: News: Pirates cut ties with manager Tracy ] ]

Graham was named the special assignment coach for the minor leagues for the Baltimore Orioles on October 30, 2007. [ [http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/roch/blog/2007/10/the_new_hires.html baltimoresun.com - Roch Around the Clock: The new hires ] ]

Personal life

Graham currently resides in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, with his wife Karen and threechildren; son Jack and daughters Kelsey and Kendall.

References

External links

* [http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/pit/player_dev.pdf Official Bio]
* [http://www.post-gazette.com/pirates/20011204pirates1204p3.asp Article]