Jimmie Lee Solomon (March 11, 1956October 8, 2020) was an American lawyer and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

executive. He served as the executive vice president of baseball operations in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 2005 to 2010, before going on to serve as the executive vice president for baseball development from 2010 to 2012. He announced plans in September 2020 to head a subdivision of a private equity firm that would invest in start-up tech firms connected to sports, but died several weeks later.

Early life and education

Solomon was born and raised in

Thompsons, Texas Thompsons is a town in Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, within the Greater Houston, Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 246 at the 2010 census. Geography Thompsons is located ...

, a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located about 35 miles southwest of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

with a population of 246 people, according to the 2010 Census. He was one of six children born to Jimmie Lee Solomon Sr., a farmer, and his wife Josephine, who worked at

K-Mart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inco ...

in Houston. His grandfather, Jeremiah, was his earliest and most influential role model, as he was college educated and continually encouraged the young Jimmie Lee to excel academically. Solomon was a graduate of

Lamar Consolidated High School Lamar Consolidated High School is a grades 9–12 school located in Rosenberg, Texas, United States. The school, which serves the City of Richmond, parts of Rosenberg, and unincorporated areas of Fort Bend County, is a part of the Lamar Consolida ...

Rosenberg, Texas Rosenberg is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County. The population was 38,282 at the 2020 census, up from 30,61 ...

, held a J.D. degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and earned a Bachelor of Arts at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. He played for the Dartmouth football team and established the university's record for the sixty-meter dash.

Career

Solomon became MLB's Director of Minor League Operations in 1991. He subsequently was promoted to executive director of Minor League Operations and then to senior VP of Baseball Operations. He oversaw major, minor and international baseball operations; the MLB scouting bureau, the Arizona Fall League, and numerous special projects, including the launching of the MLB Youth Academy at Compton College, California. The

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

was conceived by Solomon. Looking for an event to showcase the minor leagues and round out the All-Star week festivities, Solomon looked at the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

rookie game and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

's rookie flag football game and thought of the idea. Since 1999, the Futures Game has become a big event for teams' player development departments, a coveted resume filler for players and programming for

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. Rosters for the Futures Game are selected by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' magazine, in conjunction with MLB and the 30 clubs. Every organization is represented, with no more than two players from any organization. In 2003, Solomon was included in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''s list of the ''101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports''. Solomon was named executive vice president of Baseball Operations on June 1, 2005.

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...

made the announcement in a press release. As executive VP, Solomon was responsible for such additional areas as on-field discipline, security, and management of facilities. On August 7, 2007, Solomon was in attendance during the game in which

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

broke the all-time home run record previously held by

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

in place of Selig. In June 2010, Solomon became MLB's executive vice president for baseball development, putting him in control of academies in the United States and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

run by MLB, minor league operations and the

Civil Rights Game The Civil Rights Game was an annual game in Major League Baseball (MLB) that honored the history of civil rights in the United States. Its first two playings also marked an unofficial end to the league's spring training. The game was contested an ...

held annually. Solomon resigned from his role with Major League Baseball on June 12. Former Yankees and Dodgers manager

Joe Torre Joseph Paul Torre (; born July 18, 1940) is an American professional baseball executive, serving as a special assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball since 2020. He previously served in the capacity of Major League Baseball's (MLB) chief baseb ...

was appointed as his successor in the executive vice president of Baseball Operations position.

Later life

Solomon announced that he would become president of Playrs, a branch of the private equity firm Turn2 Equity Partners, in late September 2020. The group included other MLB individuals such as manager

Dusty Baker Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker Jr. (born June 15, 1949) is an American baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Houston Astros in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in the MLB for 19 seasons, most notably with the L ...

, as well as general managers

Jim Duquette Jim Duquette is an American baseball executive. He was the general manager of the New York Mets from 2003–2004, before the team replaced him with Omar Minaya. Duquette subsequently stayed with the Mets in a front office job for a full seas ...

and Bobby Evans. However, he died several weeks later at his home in Houston, on October 8, 2020. He was 64; the cause of death is not known.

Citations

Sources

Official website of Jimmie Lee Solomon

Dartmouth CollegeIvy League Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Jimmie Lee 1956 births 2020 deaths African-American lawyers African-American sports executives and administrators American sports executives and administrators Arizona Fall League Dartmouth Big Green football players Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Major League Baseball central office executives Major League Baseball Executive Vice Presidents for Baseball Operations People from Fort Bend County, Texas Players of American football from Texas Texas lawyers 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people