Rick Hahn (born March 20, 1971) is an American baseball executive who serves as the Senior Vice President/General Manager of the

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 ...

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) ...

. Following the 2020 season, in which the White Sox made their first post-season appearance since 2008, Hahn was voted winner of the

Sporting News Executive of the Year Award The ''Sporting News'' Executive of the Year Award was established in and is given annually to one executive, including general managers, in Major League Baseball (MLB). The presenting company, originally known as ''The Sporting News'', has been ...

by a panel of his peers. Hahn joined

Roland Hemond Roland A. Hemond (October 26, 1929 – December 12, 2021) was an American professional baseball executive who worked in Major League Baseball. He served as the scouting director of the California Angels, general manager of the Chicago White Sox ...

(1972) and

Bill Veeck William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis ...

(1977) to become only the third White Sox executive to win the honor in the 85-year history of the award. During Hahn's tenure, the White Sox had seven losing seasons before they made the post-season in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the franchise's 121-year history when they won the 2021 American League Central Division.

Biography

Hahn was raised in

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the second ...

, and graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public high school, public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in ...

. He then went on to receive his undergraduate degree from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

from the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most ...

. Hahn began his professional career as an agent at Steinberg, Moorad and Dunn in 2000. He worked there for two years before joining the White Sox in 2002. His aspirations of becoming a baseball executive were spurred on early in life at age eleven when he wrote a letter to Dallas Green, the Cubs Vice President and General Manager at the time, suggesting possible trades, and Green responded to him in the form of a letter. In July 2011, SportsIllustrated.com ranked Hahn as the #1 General Manager Candidate in

. Similarly, in March 2010, ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form ...

'' named Hahn the #1 General Manager prospect in Baseball. And, during the 2008 season, ''

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

'' had named Hahn one of the top-ten GM candidates in the game. Following the 2007 season, Hahn withdrew his name from consideration for the General Manager's job of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals h ...

, who eventually named

John Mozeliak John Mozeliak (born January 18, 1969) is an American baseball executive who is the president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Never a professional baseball player, Mozeliak came to the Cardinals ...

to the position, and he also declined the opportunity to interview for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

GM job prior to

Neal Huntington Neal Alden Huntington (born February 4, 1969) is the former General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball and currently works in the front office of the Cleveland Guardians. Background A native of Amherst, New Hampshire, ...

being named to that post. Additionally, the White Sox declined Hahn permission to interview for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

GM job following the 2008 season. Hahn resides in

Glencoe, Illinois Glencoe () is a lakefront village in northeastern Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,849. Glencoe is part of Chicago's North Shore and is located within the New Trier High School District. Glenco ...

with his wife Jean and their two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hahn, Rick Living people Chicago White Sox executives Harvard Law School alumni Kellogg School of Management alumni University of Michigan alumni 1971 births People from Winnetka, Illinois