USD Magazine, Spring 2004

were defeated in the deciding game by - who else? - the New York Yankees. Boston fans were devastated, bur it's fair co say that few cook the loss harder than Epstein, who grew up rooting for the Red Sox. His family moved to Boston from New York in 1978 when he was 4 and his father, Leslie, cook a faculty position at Boston University. The family serried in the Brookline area, within a few miles of Fenway Park, the historic home of the Red Sox, and Epstein became a rabid fan. As a result of this addiction, Theo's twin brother, Paul, had a hard rime getting co see the sports section of the family newspaper. "Theo always had it, poring over rhe box scores," Paul cold the Boston Globe in an interview after his brother cook the GM job. Epstein formed opinions about the game early. "I remember watching a game with him on TV when he was still very yo ung," his father, Leslie, cold rhe Globe. "And he said, 'The center fielder should move three steps co his left. The next pitch, the batter hits one just our of reach of rhe center fielder. I said, 'What is going on here?"' Epstein played Lirrle League and high school baseball and, after graduating high school, attended Yale University. He became a sports writer and sports editor for rhe Yale Daily News, frequenrly wearing his Red Sox cap in the office. His ascent co one of baseball's cop jobs began during his freshman year at Yale, when he wrote a letter co Baltimore Orioles Vice President Calvin Hill, a Yale graduate and former National Football League star. Hill was impressed, and the letter led co a summer internship in 1992. Epstein worked summers for the Orioles until his graduation from Yale in 1995. He then accompanied Orioles president and CEO Larry Lucchino, who had become his mentor, co San Diego co work for the Padres. "We always thought he co uld be a general manager," Julie Wagner, the Orioles director of community relations at the rime, cold the Boston Globe. "He was so bright and so pas– sionate. We gave him a lot of responsibility." With the Padres, Epstein initially worked in entertainment and media relations, bur eventually became director of baseball operations under general manager Kevin Towers, where his duties included scouting, player evaluation, player development and contract negotiations. He was more adept at evaluating numbers than players on rhe

league history. Bur Epstein says he didn't feel intimidated when he was asked co com– pete in the American League's East Division against Steinbrenner, who has spent lavishly co build Yankee reams that have been co the World Series six rimes in the past decade, and won it four times. "The Red Sox hadn't won [the World Series] in 85 years [when I cook the job]," he says, "so I saw it a lot more as an oppor– tunity.. .co me ir was an ideal job." Epstein wasted no rime once he had the job, reshaping the ream for last year. In late 2002, he signed second baseman Todd Walker, and, in early 2003, acquired first baseman Kevin Millar, third baseman Bill Mueller, who hit .326 co win the American League batting championship, and powerful designated hitter David Ortiz. Ar mid-season he traded for relief pitchers Byung-Hyum Kim and Scott Williamson. "He transformed that bullpen on the fly, " says Bavasi, who at the rime was director of player development for rhe Los Angeles Dodgers, a position in which he scoured and evaluated young players. "They went from where rhey had a 'closer by committee' co where they had a couple of guys co work at the end of the game." The acquisitions bolstered the team on the field. The Red Sox won 95 games and came within five outs of winning the American League Championship Series and reaching the World Series. In the AL cham– pionship, they lost rhar chance when they

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