O’Brien Finds Niche as Savior of Arizona Fall League

Dan O’Brien walked into his office Saturday morning only to be greeted by frenzied employees and a stack of urgent messages.

It had been raining all night and morning. Managers of the six Arizona Fall League teams were waiting for instructions. The Prime Ticket television crew wanted answers. Major league general managers were impatient.

O’Brien, who has spent 40 years in baseball as a general manager, demanded that everyone stay calm. No need for rash decisions.

The rain stopped by 10:30 a.m. By 11, the sun broke through. By 1 p.m., the Peoria-Scottsdale game was under way as scheduled.

O’Brien, the man whom the Angels fired unceremoniously a year ago, again was a calming influence.

“Everyone was panicking, but I had an ace in the hole,” O’Brien said. “You see, I made sure they put a tarp on the field last night. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

This approach is characteristic of O’Brien.

This approach might have cost him his job with the Angels.

O’Brien was the antithesis of his co-general manager, Whitey Herzog. While Herzog was willing to trade and sign players as if he were at a close-out sale, O’Brien deliberated as if he were at the U.N.

While Herzog told crude, raunchy jokes to the players, O’Brien would inquire about their families.

While Herzog was embarrassed that the Angels couldn’t win a division title, O’Brien was proud of the Angels’ profits.

It was a partnership that was doomed at the start. By the end of the 1993 season, Angel President Richard Brown knew someone had to go.

Herzog stayed.

“I was very surprised when it happened,” O’Brien said, talking publicly about his firing for the first time. “It just didn’t make sense to me.

“The thing that I find funny is that people kept saying that Whitey and I never got along. That wasn’t true. I mean, Whitey was never around. He did things his way and I did things my way. All I know is that I was there every day in the office.”

Trouble brewed, according to insiders, when the responsibilities of O’Brien and Herzog overlapped. O’Brien believed he was in charge of trades and free-agent signings. Herzog claimed that was the reason he was hired.

It started to become quite embarrassing when the Angels signed free agents Stan Javier and Scott Sanderson before the 1993 season, only for Herzog to be notified weeks later by a reporter.

“It’s not my fault I couldn’t find Whitey,” O’Brien said. “Whitey could have been out fishing, hunting, skiing, who knows. But I wasn’t going to hold up a deal until I could find him.”

O’Brien’s methodical style, meanwhile, irritated Herzog, who wanted to wheel and deal, and considered O’Brien a hindrance. If they were going to be successful, Herzog said, he needed to be aggressive.

So O’Brien was fired. Herzog vowed to move quickly. Within a week, pitcher Joe Magrane was signed to a two-year contract that guaranteed $3 million.

“If I was there,” O’Brien said, “believe me, that wouldn’t have happened. Joe Magrane would have been a spring-training invitee.”

Yet, Herzog saved his most surprising move for Jan. 12, 1994. He resigned. Instead of two general managers, the Angels suddenly had none.

“I couldn’t believe it,” O’Brien said. “It had been only four months since I left, and now Whitey was leaving too.”

The Angels, after failing to persuade Herzog to stay, promoted Bill Bavasi. And, if little else, it was a nice consolation to O’Brien. He always believed Bavasi deserved to become the Angels’ general manager one day.

“He couldn’t have been better about the whole thing,” said Tim Mead, Angel assistant general manager. “Dan called us right away and congratulated us. He told us, ‘If I can ever be of any help, please feel free to call.’

“Well, believe me, we relied on him quite a few times this year. We never hesitated. He has been a big help to both of us.”

Now, O’Brien is being declared a savior of the Arizona Fall League, which was on the verge of folding a year ago. O’Brien was the man who helped persuade the Chicago White Sox to send their double-A outfielder to this three-year-old developmental league.

A guy named Michael Jordan.

A year ago, the league sold 21 season tickets. They had an advance sale of seven seats from the ticket brokerage firm.

This year, the season-ticket sales were cut off at 2,200. Every team has broken its attendance record. They have 10 games scheduled on the Prime Ticket network.

O’Brien, 65, is as proud of preserving the Arizona Fall League as he was of his four-year stint with the Angels.

Sure, the Angels never won a division title during his tenure. Only once were they in contention. But despite ownership’s contention the Angels lost $16 million during that span, O’Brien insists the franchise made money.

“I know we did,” he said, “and I’m proud of that. Sure, you’d like to win a pennant or a World Series, but coming a close second to that means nothing.

“To me, it’s not a great achievement to win a World Series if you have a $50 million payroll. Now, if you win it with a small payroll, like the Minnesota Twins did a couple of times, now that’s saying something.”

The Angels had one of the highest payrolls in the game when O’Brien was hired, soaring to almost $36 million without ever resulting in a contending team. Today, the projected payroll is $24.5 million, and the Angels are expected to contend for the American League West title in 1995.

O’Brien said he harbors no bitterness toward the Angels and no longer desires to be a general manager. He’s content to stay in the fall league, but if Phoenix gets an expansion franchise, he’d certainly listen.

“When you’ve been in the game as long as I have,” O’Brien said, “you want to be involved in it. I enjoy it, and the rewarding part is seeing these players developing. There’s a lot of future stars here. You look at a 20-year-old kid like Ruben Rivera (of the New York Yankees), and in a few years, he could be one of the best players in the game.

“Besides, there’s still a few things I need to do here. I’m not about to let Jordan leave here without getting him on the basketball court at least once. I’ve got to show him my set shot.

“How about that, the NBA season has started, and I’ve got the greatest basketball player in the world playing for me.

“I think I’m doing just fine.”