Inside Baseball: Humble Moore takes unusual route to become top GM – CBSSports.com

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The prototype baseball general manager hired today went to an Ivy League School, or at the very least some other ultra-prestigious college out East. With the hirings this month alone of David Stearns (Harvard) by the Brewers, Mike Hazen (Princeton) by the Red Sox (Princeton) and Matt Klentak (Dartmouth) by the Phillies, more than half the teams boast an Ivy leaguer (or comparable) at the top of their baseball hierarchy.

Yet, the understated, undersized Royals GM Dayton Moore, of Garden City Community College (and later George Mason University) might well be the best general manager of them all.

Moore likes to joke about his low grade-point average at Moline (Ill.) High School. (I covered him as a Moline Maroon a shortstop while at the Moline Daily Dispatch in 1985), and he isn’t ashamed that he went the JUCO route, where he played before moving on to George Mason University.

Eventually, he signed with the independent Erie (Pa.) Sailors. That was a long way from the big leagues. No matter, he was cut in spring training.

From those humble beginnings, Moore rose to become a general manager, and now is the GM of a two-time World Series participant. There’s been a lot of hard work, and even more great decisions, along the way.

Moore’s first month on the GM job, he recalled Twins scout Mike Ruth remarked to him, “Not bad for Garden City Community College.” And it’s been that way since. Not bad, indeed.

The shame of it is, someone with his background might never be hired now. “No way he gets a look today,” says one of Moore’s many admirers throughout the game.

Give the Royals-owning Glass family credit for tabbing Moore as GM nine years ago, and for sticking with him when the first six years were rather lean. But give Moore credit for rising through the ranks with hard work and humility. He started as an assistant college coach at George Mason, which is where he was when legendary Braves scout Roy Clark hired him to be an area scout. From there he rose to the front office, where he started as an assistant in the baseball ops department, then became the assistant director of scouting, then assistant director of baseball development, then international scouting director, then director of player personnel, then assistant general manager.

By the time he became GM of the Royals, he was past 40.

Moore has an affinity not necessarily for the new stat but for the older scout, and two of his key guys with the Royals are in their late 70s or 80s, Williams and Art Stewart. He didn’t clean house when he took over for Allard Baird in KC, keeping good people he thought would help. He plays to everyone’s strengths.

He got killed in the internet saber press for years by folks who never bothered to call him. The team’s rise seemed slower to some than his own. But like him, once it got to the top, it’s stuck.

He fits Kansas City.

When Moore was in the Bay Area for the World Series last year, he called me up to ask if I could recommend a coffee shop where he could get just a regular coffee for under $7, not some fancy latte. (I recommended Starbucks, if I recall). He couldn’t believe how expensive things were. San Francisco isn’t his scene. He’s so down to Earth he’s practically part of the Earth.

His rise was steady, but far from meteoric. He did every job, and he proved himself along the way.

“I’m very proud of the way I grew up in the game. There’s no one path to success,” Moore said. “I admire and respect everyone in the game.”

While Moore may not be a sabermetric expert (though he is very proud of the Royals’ saber department, which includes an MIT man, a Columbia man and a Vanderbilt/Notre Dame man, and they’re taking them all out to fields to make them more well-rounded), he may well be the best leader in the game. The entire organization seems to love him. And that isn’t true everywhere, of course.

“There’s not a day you wake up and don’t want to charge the hill for him,” Gene Watson, the Royals’ director of professional scouting, said. “You just don’t want to let the guy down.”

“His people skills are so good,” Royals scout Paul Gibson said. “He’s so much fun to work for.”

Moore even has a book out, if anyone outside the baseball-crazed Kansas City has noticed. It is titled “More than a season: Building a championship culture” and they say it’s about leadership. Without reading it, you can be sure he criticizes no one.

He hires well. He picked Ned Yost from their days together in Atlanta, and he did so because the players get Yost, even if most of the rest of us don’t. The players are ultimately what makes a team tick.

Moore is where he is because he aims to make everyone’s life better.

“We all have a common goal. That is to create the best baseball environment in the history of the game, where the players want to play, the coaches want to coach and the scouts want to find players,” Moore said. “Most importantly, the guys are open-minded to new ideas for the greater good of the team … And hopefully, that leads to winning a lot of games.”

He seeks no attention. When the Dispatch, his hometown paper, called last year to do a story on him, he called me first to see if he should have anything to worry about. He was the GM of a World Series team, and this is a small-town paper looking to lionize him. Umm, in a word, no.

He didn’t want to do an interview for this story, either. Because he suspected it would be about him.

Moore instead often credits the men who taught him all about baseball, mostly from the Braves organization, from Clark to Paul Snyder to Donnie Williams to Bill Lajoie to Jose Martinez to the legendary John Schuerholz.

Moore’s contract is up after next year, and the Glass family, not known for big spending, apparently has not made a move to lock up the perhaps most vital man in the organization.

Moore admits he did a bit better in college than high school (he did graduate with a degree in physical education). But his first love was always the game. He was the leader of that Moline team, which was pretty good but unfortunately touched by tragedy. Todd Smith, the star pitcher on the team, and the author of a no-hitter, was on a golf course on a day off when he was struck by lightning and killed. Dayton, 17 at the time, was the leader of the team and one of the pall bearers at the funeral.

He was naturally devastated. But Moore recalled that day here on the eve of the World Series. “What you really agonize over is the hurt you saw in the parents,” he said. To this day, that day is etched in his mind.

Moore may not have every sabermetric number at his disposal. But he is a good man with his priorities in order and everything in perspective. And that’s not something you can measure with a pile of numbers.

Around the Majors …

	Chicago Cubs News
The Mets were amazed at Kyle Schwarber‘s power. He’ll be a star, but one scout said he’d better switch out of left field. “He was fine all year, but the ball’s going to find you. And it found him in the NLCS.” Cubs people think, ultimately, he can catch. One Cubs person said, “Cerebrally, he’s fine. He needs reps.”
	Cincinnati Reds News
It isn’t known yet whether the Reds will trade star closer Aroldis Chapman (the guess here is yes), but if they do, the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Nationals are expected to be at the forefront of the talks. Many, ,any other teams would be in, too, of course.
	Houston Astros News
Rookie shortstop Carlos Correa is quite the mensch. The 21-year-old came over and introduced himself. I congratulated him on his season, and the Astros almost making it here. “Almost doesn’t count,” he said. He’s at the World Series doing some media work for MLB.com. He’s a very polished young man. He could go into media work if he wasn’t scheduled to hit 500 home runs over the next 20 seasons.
	Kansas City Royals News
Perhaps Game 2 starter Johnny Cueto has hurt his free agency with a couple of rough road outings in the postseason, but he should still do very fine in free agency. Or as one general manage rput it, “Generations of Cuetos should be well taken care of.” … The Royals have one of the best bottoms of the order in World Series history, with Sal Perez, Alex Gordon and Alex Rios batting 7-8-9. Gordon may be the best No. 8 hitter in postseason history (not counting A-Rod that one game in 2006 vs. Detroit) … Jonny Gomes is expected big things when the World Series switches venues. “New York’s going to be bananas,” he predicted.
	Los Angeles Angels News
One competing club president says he thinks the new GM Billy Eppler is walking into a “Bermuda Triangle” situation with a three-headed monster at the top of the hierarchy, also including owner Arte Moreno and manager Mike Scioscia. With an owner and manager who are very involved, they first tried a GM (Tony Reagins) who came from marketing and did what he was told, then a GM who was his own man (Jerry Dipoto), and who eventually got lost and had to resign. Eppler starts with a terrific relationship with both men, but it won’t be an easy task … Best wishes to Rod Carew, one of the all-time great hitters who’s battling a heart ailment.
	Miami Marlins News
Don Mattingly, very likely to become Marlins manager, is said to have very much enjoyed meeting with Marlins people. They just need to work out a deal. His good friend Larry Bowa, apparently bowing out of the managerial race, has signed back with the Phillies as a coach and is taking part in their organizational meetings in Clearwater now, may have the inside track on what’s going on.
	Minnesota Twins News
Congratulations to Torii Hunter on his retirement. He was a credit to the game for all of his 19 seasons.
	New York Mets News
The Mets are thinking of starting Juan Lagares in center field in Game 2, with Yoenis Cespedes switching over to left field and Michael Conforto DHing. That’s not a terrible idea in expansive Kauffman Stadium (the third biggest OF in baseball) … When David Wright returned, the team was going great, and Wright’s offer to manager Terry Collins was, “I’ll do whatever you want. If you want me to si …” And Collins interrupted him. “No, I don’t want you to sit. You’re going to play.”
	San Diego Padres News
Pirates coach Rick Sofield had a second interview with the Padres, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune reported, and some believe he has a pretty fair chance at the managerial job. As was reported here first, ex-Twins manager Ron Gardenhire also had a second interview.
	Seattle Mariners News
Seattle will be one of a few teams looking for a center fielder this winter, along with the Cubs, possibly the Tigers and Nationals and others. Since it’d seem unlikely they’d bring back Austin Jackson, Denard Span and Dexter Fowler should be options.
	Tampa Bay Rays News
Good move by the Rays locking up pitching coach Jim Hickey to a three-year deal. He’s one of the best in the business.
	Toronto Blue Jays News
Toronto will exercise the $14-million option of Jose Bautista, the $12-million option of R.A. Dickey and the $10-million option of Edwin Encarnacion, sources said. Dickey would be the only one really in question there, as Bautista and Encarnacion are so far below market it’s not even a debate (The buyouts are $1 million apiece for Bautista and Dickey, and $2 million for Encarnacion, not that it much matters) … David Price and the Blue Jays are working off the usual script in saying they’d like to get together on a new contract. But the reality is, there is very little chance Price returns. The Dodgers, Cubs and even Red Sox are much more likely. The absolute baseline for a Price deal might be Jon Lester‘s $155-million Cubs, but in all likelihood he will get much more than that. It’s hard to see Toronto going way past that number … There is a strong consideration being given to moving Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez to the rotation, and if they can find the right relievers either vie trade or free agency, they just may do it.
	Washington Nationals News
Dusty Baker and Bud Black were both said to have had excellent second interviews, and it is believed it could go either way. Although, there are said to be people in the organization who see Baker as the best fit now due to his big winning history and also his history of handling superstars, such as Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.