Sandy Alderson
Alderson in 2011
Born	(1947-11-22) November 22, 1947 (age 67) Seattle, Washington
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Dartmouth College Harvard Law School
Occupation	General Manager
Organization	New York Mets

Richard Lynn "Sandy" Alderson (born November 22, 1947) is the general manager of the New York Mets.^[1] He previously served as an executive with the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and the commissioner's office of Major League Baseball.

Life and career[edit]

The son of an Air Force pilot, John Lester Alderson, who flew missions during World War II, Korea and Vietnam,^[2] Alderson attended Dartmouth College on a NROTC scholarship and graduated in 1969.^[3] He was born to mother Gwenny Parry Alderson. He attended Falls Church High School in Falls Church, Virginia. He then joined the United States Marine Corps and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1976.^[4] After law school, he worked for Farella Braun & Martel in San Francisco, California. He has two siblings, Kristy and Dave, a wife, Linda Alderson, and two kids, Bryn and Cate, who both also went to Dartmouth. He also has a dog named Buddy.

Oakland Athletics[edit]

Roy Eisenhardt, one of the firm's partners, left to become president of the Oakland Athletics when his father-in-law bought the team. In 1981, Alderson joined Eisenhardt to become the Athletics general counsel and in 1983 was named the team's general manager, a position he held through 1997. Under Alderson, the Athletics' minor league system was rebuilt, which bore fruit later that decade as José Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), and Walt Weiss (1988) were chosen as American League Rookies of the Year. The Athletics won four division titles, three pennants and the 1989 World Series during Alderson's tenure. In 1995, team owner Walter A. Haas, Jr. died and new owners Stephen Schott and Ken Hofmann ordered Alderson to slash payroll. As a result, Alderson began focusing on sabermetric principles toward obtaining relatively undervalued players.^[5] He was a mentor to his eventual successor, Billy Beane.

Major League Baseball[edit]

Alderson left the Athletics to work for Major League Baseball's commissioner’s office, where he was executive vice president for baseball operations between September 1998 and 2005.

San Diego Padres[edit]

Alderson was employed as CEO of the San Diego Padres from 2005 to 2009, with the team winning back to back division titles in 2005 and 2006. He lectured at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.^[6]

In 2010, Alderson had been working as commissioner Bud Selig’s point man to address the issues of the corruption of baseball in the Dominican Republic, the largest supplier of Major League Baseball talent outside the United States.^[7]

New York Mets[edit]

Alderson was hired by the New York Mets after the 2010 baseball season to replace Omar Minaya as general manager. He was officially introduced as the general manager of the team on October 29, 2010, signing a four-year deal with a club option for 2015.^[8] Alderson was hired by Mets owner Fred Wilpon, who was dealing with his involvement in the Madoff investment scandal, to work with a limited budget. From 2012 to 2014, Alderson reduced the Mets payroll to under $100 million, and acquired young talent in exchange for veterans, such as Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and Travis d'Arnaud, as well developing players drafted by Minaya such as Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz. This strategy resulted in the Mets winning the National League pennant in 2015, making their first World Series appearance since 2000.^[9]

	Baseball portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

References[edit]

Notes