Edwin William Leishman (December 20, 1910 — December 28, 1972) was 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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and executive. He was the first

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

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

when they joined

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, serving from late 1968 until 1972. Immediately before, Leishman had been the GM of the Triple-A,

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

edition of the Padres from 1960 to 1968.

Early life

On December 20, 1910, Leishman was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

Career

Leishman began his professional baseball career for the

Hollywood Stars The Hollywood Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early- and mid-20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles–based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels. Hollywood Stars ( ...

in 1930. Throughout the 1930s, he was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

and

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

for various

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

teams, including the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American independent league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Bas ...

and the

Binghamton Triplets The Binghamton Triplets were a minor league baseball team based in Binghamton, New York between 1923 and 1963. The franchise played as members of the New York–Penn League (1923–1937), Eastern League (1938–1963), New York–Penn League ( ...

. When a pitched ball in 1935 fractured his skull, Leishman ended his playing career due to his injury. In 1939, he became the manager of the Twin Falls Cowboys. After managing the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Co ...

in 1940, he left baseball the following year to work in steel production. Leishman returned to baseball in 1946 and joined the Idaho Falls Russets as their manager. Leishman started working with 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) Am ...

' farm teams in 1947. He originally worked as a business executive for the Ventura Yankees before becoming their general manager. The same year, Leishman was named director of multiple Yankees affiliated teams including the

Victoria Athletics The Victoria Athletics were a Western International League baseball team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada that existed from 1946 to 1951. From 1947 to 1949, they were affiliated with the New York Yankees. They played their home games at R ...

and the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings. He proceeded to the

Salt Lake City Bees The Salt Lake City Bees was a primary moniker of the minor league baseball teams, based in Salt Lake City, Utah between 1911 and 1970 under various names. After minor league baseball first began in Salt Lake City in 1900, the Bees were long-time ...

in 1950 as their owner before becoming the Bees' general manager when they relocated to the Pacific Coast League in 1957. Leishman stayed in the PCL as front-office boss of the

from 1960 to 1968, under owner C. Arnholdt Smith. When the Padres moved to the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in 1969, Smith was awarded the MLB franchise. He took on

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

general manager

Buzzie Bavasi Emil Joseph "Buzzie" Bavasi (; December 12, 1914 – May 1, 2008) was an American executive in Major League Baseball who played a major role in the operation of three California baseball franchises from the late 1940s through the mid-1980s, most ...

as a minority owner, and named Bavasi president of the Padres. Although Bavasi was integrally involved in the team's baseball operations, Leishman was retained as general manager of the MLB Padres until his death in 1972. During his career, Leishman was twice honored as Minor League Executive of the Year by

The 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 ...

, in 1959 with Salt Lake City and 1964 with San Diego. He was named the minor leagues' King of Baseball in 1966.

Death

Eddie Leishman died on December 28, 1972, in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leishman, Eddie 1910 births 1970 deaths Baseball players from Oakland, California Binghamton Triplets players Erie Sailors players Hollywood Stars players Jersey City Skeeters players Major League Baseball general managers Minor league baseball executives Minor league baseball managers Mission Reds players Newark Bears (International League) players New York Yankees scouts Oakland Oaks (baseball) players St. Paul Saints (AA) players San Diego Padres executives Seattle Rainiers players Spokane Hawks players Spokane Indians managers Spokane Indians players Twin Falls Cowboys players