In a shocking move, long-time Baltimore Monarchs great has been named the team's new GM, by the team fan who purchased the club after winning a lottery jackpot.
May 1, 2016
Sun Staff
Only a couple short weeks afterbecoming the newest United States' multi-millionaire, city native and lifelong Baltimore Monarchs fan Cole Hayden has made the ultimate splurge, purchasing the team thanks to his recent $680 million windfall.
While the assembled media laughed and assumed he was joking when he earlier mentioned he might buy the Monarchs, it was confirmed today that Hayden has in fact spent a good chunk of his windfall to become majority owner of the team.
The final details of the purchase and the price have not been released and it is believed that Hayden only spent enough to take over a majority stake of the ownership. Former owner Dale Dobeck still owns a percentage of the team, but Monarchs mega fan Hayden is now the decision maker and the controlling owner.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d own my favorite baseball team,” a grinning Hayden told reporters today. “But you never think you’re going to win $680 million either. Some people may think this is a step backwards for the franchise to be owned by a guy who has never worked a day in his life in baseball, but I plan to surround myself with intelligent baseball people and make sure this team goes in the right direction.”
But the shock and surprise was only just beginning, as Hayden then announced his first move as team owner – current general manager Dale Stevens has been fired and replaced with all-time Baltimore great.
“Our new GM is well-known to the Monarch community. He is the owner of 3,131 career hits, an all-time best on-base percentage of .440. He is the owner of a career .337 batting average, an 11-time all star. He is quite simply one of the best baseball players of all time and I’m happy to welcomeDaniel Labrie in as the team’s new general manager,” Hayden told a stunned audience as Labrie walked to the podium.
While Labrie’s on the field accomplishments no doubt put him squarely in the discussion of the greatest of all time and a future Hall of Famer, a failed drug test in 2012 tarnished an otherwise legendary career.
While he was beloved while he played, the results of that failed drug test turned him into somewhat of a villain across the nation and even throughout Baltimore, where some wondered if his entire career had been played with the benefit of performance enhancing drugs.
Labrie skirted questions about his drug use, only discussing them vaguely in his remarks.
“I’ve made mistakes, I’m not perfect, but I’m ready to turn the page on everything to do with my playing career and help guide this franchise back to respectability and to get to our ultimate goal of winning a championship,” Labrie said.
The elusive championship is one thing Labrie’s storied career lacks. A rarity in this day and age of big money free agency contracts and frequent trades, Labrie, now 43 years old, was drafted sixth overall by the Monarchs in 1995 and played his entire 18-year career with the team, a span of 2,495 games.
But while that career featured 14 playoff teams – Baltimore has made the postseason the most out of any team in the modern day of MBWBA – Labrie-led clubs never did capture a Landis Memorial Series championship trophy.
The Baltimore Monarchs last won the title in 2013 – the year after Labrie retired.
“It burns at me, deep inside, that I never won a championship,” Labrie said. “That’s a big part of the motivation, to finally get there, to accomplish what I couldn’t as a player. It wasn’t easy sitting at home and seeing Baltimore win in 2013. It wasn’t easy getting to the playoffs so many times and so many times coming up short. I expect a championship here in Baltimore and the fans deserve it.”
The outgoing general manager, Dale Stevens, had a short, but memorable, tenure with the club. He made a series of trades that provided a major shakeup to the Baltimore roster, sending away several key young players, while also revamping the team’s pitching staff. While it remains to be seen what the long-term impacts of those deals will be, team owner Hayden was far from impressed.
“Terrible, terrible trades. Some of the moves just made no sense. I’m not going to go into it in a lot of detail, but suffice to say if I had been the team owner earlier, Dale Stevens would have been out of here earlier. He never really gave me a good feeling,” he said. “In Daniel Labrie we have a great baseball guy who knows the game, knows the city and knows what it takes to be a winner. I think this is a major step forward for our franchise.”
While his on the field skills were without question, like the team’s new owner, Labrie has no front office baseball experience. After retiring after the 2012 season with the black cloud of his drug suspension over his head, Labrie has laid low and hasn’t been involved in the game in any capacity since.
He was never known as an extremely intelligent baseball player during his playing career – more so relying on his advanced skillset – so it should be interesting to see what he brings to the table as a front office guy.
“Baltimore is one of the best franchises in the league, but we need that fire back and that desire to be a winning team year in and year out,” Labrie said. “I can tell you that as GM I won’t be making widespread trades just to make them. We want to build a core we can count on here, every single year.”
