John Henry Hart Jr (born July 21, 1948) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former

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), ...

executive who served as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

and Texas Rangers and president of baseball operations for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

. He also was the interim field manager of the Indians in 1989, third-base coach of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in 1988, and a studio analyst for the

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...

Early life

Hart was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and graduated from

Winter Park High School Winter Park High School (often simply abbreviated as WPHS) located in Winter Park, Florida, United States is one of nineteen public high schools in Orange County. Winter Park High School is a International Baccalaureate school and delivers Advan ...

. He attended Seminole Junior College where he was

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

on the

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 ...

team. In 1969 he won All-American honors and began his professional career as a catcher in the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

organization. He caught with them for three seasons before leaving the organization and returning to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He graduated in 1973 from the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

with majors in history and physical education.

Baseball career

Baltimore Orioles

Hart then coached baseball at William R. Boone High School in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

before joining the

Orioles Oriole or Orioles may refer to: Animals * Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae * New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae Music * The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and earl ...

organization in 1982 as a minor league manager. He managed in their minor league organization for six seasons before joining the major league team as third base coach in 1988.

Cleveland Indians

In 1989, John Hart joined the

as a special assignment scout, then later replaced

Doc Edwards Howard Rodney "Doc" Edwards (December 10, 1938 – August 20, 2018), was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

for the final 19 games of the regular season (the team put up an 8–11 record during those games). For the next two seasons, Hart served as director of baseball operations for the club. In September 1991, John Hart replaced

Hank Peters Henry John Peters (September 16, 1924 – January 4, 2015) was an American professional baseball executive who held senior management positions for the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball between ...

and executive vice president of the Indians. During the next ten years, the Indians were 870–681 under Hart. They won six of the seven possible

American League Central The American League Central is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed in the realignment of 1994 by moving three teams from the American League West and two teams from the American League East. Its teams are all loc ...

division titles, which was introduced for the 1994 strike shortened season (1995–99 and 2001) with appearances in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Hart built the team's core through the draft, successful scouting and trades. He signed young players before the arbitration process got underway and thus enticed veteran players to stay with the team.

Texas Rangers

At the beginning of the 2001 season, Hart announced it would be his last season as general manager of the Indians. After the season, Hart stayed true to his word and assistant GM Mark Shapiro took over as general manager on November 1. But, rather than take another position with the club or retire, Hart instead took the general manager position which had opened up with the Texas Rangers after the departure of

Doug Melvin Robert Douglas Melvin (born August 8, 1952) is a Canadian front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB) who previously served as the general manager of the Texas Rangers (1995–2001) and Milwaukee Brewers (2002–2015). He is currently a ...

. On February 15, 2004, the Ranger traded

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

(the AL Most Valuable Player of the 2003 season and only the second MVP on a last place team) to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

for

Alfonso Soriano Alfonso Guilleard Soriano (born January 7, 1976) is a Dominican former professional baseball left fielder and second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, and Chicago C ...

and Joaquín Árias. They also had to pay over a third of the $179 million remaining on his contract (signed in 2000). On July 21, 2004 the Rangers announced a

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

extension for Hart for a guaranteed two more years and an annual mutual option to extend the contract each year thereafter. In addition, the contract stipulated that once it was terminated by either side, it automatically converted to a five-year agreement for Hart to serve as senior advisor to the owner. Just over a year after agreeing to the extension, on October 4, 2005, Hart stepped down as general manager and was replaced by

Jon Daniels Jon Daniels (born August 24, 1977) is an American baseball executive senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He recently served as the President of Baseball Operations for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (M ...

. Hart then became a senior advisor to Daniels. During his four years as general manager, the Rangers compiled a record of 311–337, never advancing to the playoffs. After other teams showed interest in hiring Hart as their general manager during the 2005 off-season, the Rangers extended his senior advisor contract for three more years. He would serve in that post through 2013. In return, he agreed not to consider any other GM positions with rival clubs.

Atlanta Braves

Soon after his Rangers contract expired, the

announced Hart had signed with the organization as senior advisor for baseball operations, similar to the position Hart held with the Rangers. Hart and long-time Braves executive

John Schuerholz John Boland Schuerholz Jr. (; born October 1, 1940) is an American baseball front office executive. He was the general manager of Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves from 1990 to 2007, and then served as the Braves president for a decade from 2 ...

had been friends since long before the Braves and Indians met in the

1995 World Series The 1995 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1995 season. The 91st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the Americ ...

. On September 22, 2014, Hart was named as the Braves interim general manager after the Braves released incumbent

Frank Wren Franklin E. Wren (born March 17, 1958) is an American front office executive in Major League Baseball. He began his baseball career as a minor league player for the Montreal Expos and later joined the team as an executive. Wren moved to the Florid ...

. On October 23, 2014, the Braves promoted Hart to president of baseball operations. The team, at the time stuck in the lower reaches of the

National League East Division The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title. The division was created when the National Leag ...

, was in the midst of a "reset" which saw them significantly strengthen their young pitching talent, though the rebuild came at a cost. Major League Baseball began to investigate the club's practices in signing amateur players from international markets. The probe resulted in the resignation and subsequent lifetime ban of Hart's subordinate, general manager

John Coppolella John Coppolella (born July 28, 1978) is a former American baseball front office executive who served as the general manager (baseball), general manager of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2015 through 2017. Coppolella resign ...

, and the one-year suspension of the club's scouting director. Hart was not directly implicated in nor sanctioned for the scandal; however, he resigned in its wake on November 17, 2017. The following season, , saw the Braves improve significantly on the field, winning 90 games (an 18-game upswing from ) to capture the division championship under their new management team.

Personal life

Hart and his wife Sandi have been married since 1970.

Awards

*All-American honors - 1969 *

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

Manager of the Year – 1982 *

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

Manager of the Year – 1986 *''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' Major League Executive of the Year - 1994 and 1995 *Elected to Winter Park High School's (

) athletic hall of fame - 2002

References

External links

John Hart
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
John Hart - Sporting News Executive of the Year awards: 1994, 1995
at Baseball Almanac :
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, John 1948 births Living people Atlanta Braves executives Baltimore Orioles coaches Baseball coaches from Florida Baseball players from Tampa, Florida Cleveland Indians executives Cleveland Indians managers Cleveland Indians scouts Major League Baseball general managers MLB Network personalities People from Winter Park, Florida Québec Carnavals players Rochester Red Wings managers Seminole State Raiders baseball players Texas Rangers executives University of Central Florida alumni West Palm Beach Expos players Winter Park High School alumni