Allard Baird (; born November 8, 1961) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

executive, most recently serving as the vice president and assistant

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 ...

for scouting and player development for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

until November 6, 2020. Currently, he is an advisor for the Diamondbacks. Baird also previously held executive positions with the Kansas City Royals and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

Early years

Baird grew up in

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 census. In addition to the downtown area, the city contains the villages of East Rochester, Gonic, and North Rochester. Rochester is ...

, where he played baseball for the Spaulding High School Red Raiders. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

Southern Arkansas University Southern Arkansas University (SAU) is a public university in Magnolia, Arkansas. History Southern Arkansas University was established by an Act of the Arkansas Legislature in 1909 as a district agricultural high school for southwest Arkansas an ...

(SAU) in 1985, coached at SAU in 1986, and then was the head coach at Broward Community College in 1987. Baird was inducted to the SAU hall of fame in 2012.

Career

Kansas City Royals

Baird spent 18 years in the Kansas City Royals organization, starting as the hitting coach for Class A Appleton of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

in 1988. He worked his way up the executive ladder, including serving as an assistant to the GM (1998) and assistant GM (1999–2000). Baird replaced

Herk Robinson Spencer "Herk" Robinson (born 1941) is a retired American front office executive in Major League Baseball. He served for almost a decade as general manager of the Kansas City Royals, from October 10, 1990, through June 17, 2000, and was an executive ...

as the Royals' general manager on June 17, 2000. Baird's job was a difficult one: taking a small-market, losing-record team and trying to compete against teams like 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 Fi ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. During his six full years as general manager, Baird traded away popular players

Johnny Damon Johnny David Damon (born November 5, 1973) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1995 to 2012. During his MLB career, Damon played for the Kansas City Royals (1995–2000), Oakland A ...

Carlos Beltrán Carlos Iván Beltrán (; born April 24, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1998 to 2017 for the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Fran ...

, and

Jermaine Dye Jermaine Trevell Dye (born January 28, 1974) is an American former professional baseball right fielder. Dye grew up in Northern California and was a multi-sport star at Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville. Dye attended Cosumnes River College in ...

with many Royal fans feeling that the team didn't get equal value. He also signed free agent Juan González to a one-year, $4 million contract, but he played only 33 games due to a back injury. After a poor start to the 2006 season, Baird was fired on May 31 and replaced by Dayton Moore. During Baird's tenure, the team amassed a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

of 381–576 (.398), including three 100-loss seasons and only one winning season ( 2003). The Royals did lead MLB in hits for the season.

Boston Red Sox

Baird joined the

in 2006 as an assistant to the general manager after his firing in Kansas City, and later was named vice president and director of professional scouting. Baird later became the senior vice president of player personnel, serving under President of Baseball Operations

Dave Dombrowski David Dombrowski (born July 27, 1956) is an American baseball executive who serves as the President of Baseball Operations for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Dombrowski also previously served as the general manager of ...

. The Red Sox won 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 ...

three times during Baird's time with the team; 2007,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

New York Mets

On November 28, 2018, Baird was hired by the

, to work for new general manager

Brodie Van Wagenen Brodie Van Wagenen (born March 9, 1974) is an American sports agent and former executive. He was formerly the general manager for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously worked at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and served a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Allard 1961 births Living people Baseball coaches Boston Red Sox executives Kansas City Royals executives Kansas City Royals scouts Major League Baseball general managers New York Mets executives People from Rochester, New Hampshire Sportspeople from Strafford County, New Hampshire Southern Arkansas Muleriders baseball players