How Dave Dombrowski Led the Phillies to the World Series
(By James Lang) Dave Dombrowski is the face of the New York Mets, but he’s far more than that. The Phils’ new general manager is part-owner of the New York Yankees, an executive with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a player in major league baseball for 24 years.
His career story is a fascinating one, but it’s his interactions with Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and with his fellow commissioners that are especially interesting.
Dombrowski grew up outside of Philadelphia, and it’s easy to see why. Growing in his hometown was tough. He played youth baseball in the area, going to a team called the Chestnut Hill Hurricanes. In the spring, he’d drive to New York to join his teammates for games at Yankee Stadium. When he wasn’t in the big leagues, he often played in Philadelphia as a minor-league shortstop. He never had any intention of playing professional baseball. Rather he was always thinking about being in baseball. This desire to be involved in the game carried him through his years as a college student, and even though he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, he was still playing baseball.
This desire to be in baseball and to make a career out of it was the catalyst for his move to New York. His college coach was Jack MacMath, who became a Hall of Fame coach, and MacMath gave him a baseball card. After taking a few extra courses during his off time, he joined MacMath’s staff by writing a letter of recommendation, and he began his career in baseball as an unpaid volunteer coach. He started his first coaching job from scratch because he wasn’t getting paid and didn’t know where to get paid. Eventually, with his coaching and minor league experience, MacMath convinced Dombrowski to give up coaching for a bit and work for the Yankees as assistant manager. It was during this time that D
