November 2, 2011
Twins GM Smith charts own course
by Kevin Henkin/
Minnesota Twins GM Bill Smith (right) of North Hampton, N.H., earned his first break as an intern in the baseball commissioner's office in 1980. (photo: Minnesota Twins)
When he was a senior in college, Bill Smith knew he didn’t fit the description of a typical front-office executive in Major League Baseball. A French major with limited talent and experience as a player, Smith charged hard in pursuit of his dream anyway.
Thirty-one years later — including the past four as the general manager of the Minnesota Twins — it’s fair to say that Smith’s success broke the stereotype of baseball GMs. Perhaps he even paved the way for the new generation of young executives who have gained entry into MLB’s front offices — not with their résumés as former players and coaches but with their thinking-man’s approach and higher-education credentials.
Smith, a native of North Hampton, N.H., grew up watching the Red Sox while on their roller-coaster ride through the 1970s. As an undergraduate, he decided that he wanted a career in baseball. Nearing his graduation from college, he discovered a chance to do something about it.
In December 1979, as a senior at Hamilton College in upstate New York, Smith took notice that MLB’s annual winter meetings were about to take place in nearby Toronto.
“Back then, the winter baseball meetings were typically held in beautiful summer places,” Smith said. “You know, Florida, Hawaii, San Diego. They hadn’t been held up north in a long time, but because they were in Toronto that year, I was able to jump on a bus to get there.
“During the meetings, I hung around the lobby for four or five days and found out about an internship that was in the baseball commissioner’s office that they had just started the previous year. I was very fortunate to go through that application process and get selected for that position.”
The following July, upon graduation from Hamilton, Smith worked on various projects for the commissioner’s office until he caught on permanently with the Chicago White Sox in March 1981. He spent two years serving as an assistant director of minor leagues and scouting until he felt he needed a change to broaden his experience.
“I didn’t have enough understanding of how the minor leagues worked in a sense that I had skipped that level of development,” he said. “I didn’t have an understanding of what the players went through, what the staff went through and just the general business model that the minor leagues went through.”
Smith gained that perspective by spending three years as general manager of the Appleton Foxes, the Class A affiliate of the White Sox located in the heartland of Wisconsin.
“On that job,” he said, “I learned all the nuances of sales marketing promotions, media relations, stadium operations, concessions, everything that a club goes through. Even 30 or so years later, I still draw on a lot of that stuff. My big corporate partnerships in Appleton were $30,000. There are millions of dollars in corporate partnerships at the big-league level, but a lot of the principles are the same.”
In the winter of 1986 while in Chicago, Smith received a tip from Dave Dombrowski (then the assistant GM of the White Sox) about a high-level opportunity with the Minnesota Twins. After making some calls and setting himself up with a same-day interview, Smith made the 400-mile drive to Minneapolis and was able to land the job as assistant director of minor leagues and scouting for the Twins.
Smith reported directly to Jim Rantz and Terry Ryan and focused his time on administrative duties based on the skills he’d honed in Appleton. Eight years later, when Ryan became the Twins’ GM in 1994, he elevated Smith to become his assistant general manager.
That same year, Smith played a pivotal role in bringing the minor-league team in New Britain, Conn., on board as an affiliate of the Twins. From 1983 forward, the team had played as the New Britain Red Sox (now called the Rock Cats), but when team owner Joe Buzas refused to move the team to Springfield, Mass., the Red Sox pulled their affiliation.
“The Twins had worked with Joe Buzas before at the Triple-A level,” Smith said. “So when he was looking for a new affiliate, I think our organization was well positioned to make it work. We enjoyed working with Joe, and we’ve been dealing with the new ownership group for a decade now. They have been just wonderful to work with.”
For the next 13 years, Smith served Ryan and allowed the GM to focus on the scouting side of the operation. When Ryan stepped down in September 2007 to resume full-time scouting duties for the organization, Smith took over the GM job.
When the torch was passed, Ryan told reporters, “Bill was ready (for this job) 10 years ago. There isn’t a thing he hasn’t done. … If some of these owners had come in and talked to Bill, he’d have blown them away.”
Four years later, Smith still considers Ryan to be his greatest resource of guidance and good advice.
“He was an influence back then and still is,” he said. “Terry basically completely revamped the scouting process for the Twins. Basically everything we do in scouting, he changed it starting in 1986. He has been a great mentor and friend, and I still rely on him on a regular basis.”
Regarding his own approach to the job, Smith said, “Most general managers are either administrators or evaluators, and I’m an administrator. I don’t try to get too high out on my lesser strengths. I’m not a gifted evaluator. That’s not my forte, and so we’ve got plenty of good evaluators.”
Smith acknowledges that the game has changed considerably since he entered the league and that competition for front-office positions has intensified.
“For every job that opens up,” he said, “there are a hundred candidates. There has to be something that separates you. All candidates are going to be hard-working students who are passionate about the game. The ability to speak Spanish is a separator. Accounting, public speaking, player valuation, those are all things that might be separators from the rest of the group. That said, I think work ethic and passion for the game are irreplaceable qualities.”
Looking back on his career, Smith said, “I’ve been in baseball for 30 years now, and I’ve really only worked for two organizations. I had the unbelievable good fortune to work for (former White Sox GM) Roland Hemond (Central Falls, R.I.). With the Twins, I’ve worked for Andy McPhail and Terry Ryan and watched the team win two World Series. It’s been a wonderful experience and I relish every day of it.”
This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
Kevin Henkin can be reached at feedback@baseballjournal.com
