After many long years of waiting, the owner of the Blue Jays Owner called for a celebration.
After many long years of waiting, the owner of the Blue Jays Owner called for a celebration.
Cleveland — From a personal and professional standpoint, Mark Shapiro has a great affection for Cleveland and its residents.
It’s also where the president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays was raised, started his professional career, and assisted in bringing about the 1990s baseball renaissance that is currently experiencing a 21st-century rebirth. For Shapiro, it will always be home in many ways.
Shapiro has been watching Cleveland’s celebration this summer as the Cavaliers won an NBA title, ending a half-century-long drought for the city, from a distance. He has also been proud to see Indians fans come together in support of a team that has been underappreciated, even in October.
What a ride it has been.
He laughed and said, “I just feel bad that we’re going to have to put an end to it.”Wednesday, over the phone.
With his new team, the Blue Jays, playing the team that gave him his start, the Indians, for a chance to advance to the World Series, Shapiro finds himself the man in the middle of the AL Championship Series.
Shapiro’s reunion won’t only be an emotional one. Along with many other Cleveland employees, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins worked alongside Indians president Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona.
On Wednesday, Shapiro was scheduled to travel to Cleveland and have dinner with his sister Julie, who resides in the region. He will arrive at Progressive Field on Thursday, just as he has for over 20 years, and while he is aware of the way to the visitors’ clubhouse, Shapiro’s His first destination will be the executive offices of the Indians, where he intends to see coworkers who are like family.
“I’ve got not just friendships, but deep friendships both in the community there and throughout the Indians organization, up and down it,” he stated. It’s about playing a group of people with whom you have a long history and a great deal of respect, not just about walking in to play the team. However, I can assure you that after seven games against them, my only feeling at the beginning of the game is a competitive drive to win.”
Shapiro began his career with the Indians as an unpaid intern in the early 1990s and stayed for 24 seasons. However, it wasn’t long before the Son of renowned sports agent Ron Shapiro, who attended Princeton, rose through the ranks to become one of baseball’s top executives.
Shapiro has always done things the right way, leading the Indians into a model organization and guiding them through challenging times when attendance declined and the team had to reinvent itself to remain competitive. Shapiro has always done things with style and humility.
But Shapiro’s influence on the Indians goes far beyond numbers. Perhaps his unique set of abilities was his personal touch.
“Mark wasn’t my favorite person here. How is that going?” Francona laughed, then got serious about Atkins and Shapiro.
“It’ll be fun to say hello, I’m so close to both of them,” Francona, who used to take careful notes whenever Shapiro said. “They want to bash our brains out, I’m sure, just like we do. But a friendship won’t be impacted in the slightest when it ends. The next time I see them, it’s probably at the winter meetings, where we’ll laugh over something that happened during this (series), I’m sure.
“The duration could be one year, two years, or even less. That kind of friendship kind of transcends time, place, and other limitations.”
While Shapiro was with the Indians, he declined an offer from the Cleveland Browns and was contacted by many other teams. Though he was happy, Shapiro may have needed a change of pace, so he took a job with theBlue Jays, deciding to break away from the only team he had ever played for.
Shapiro traveled back and forth from Cleveland to Toronto for the majority of the previous year, where he was met with disdain after popular general manager Alex Anthopoulos was moved aside to make room for him. Shapiro’s transition was extremely turbulent, with criticism directed at him in columns and on sports talk radio across Canada. A few of the assaults were vicious and personal.
Shapiro took the criticism in stride, focused, and got to work.
Antonetti never worried about Shapiro’s influence over public perception of him.
“I spoke with Mark a lot, particularly in the beginning,” Antonetti remarked as the Indians warmed up for Friday’s opening game. “I’ve always believed that as soon as the city, the organization and the nation came to know Mark Shapiro as the executive and person that they would welcome into their lives. He is a remarkable human being and a transformational leader, which are two excellent qualities that will make you likeable to others.”
Shapiro watched on TV with his son Caden, who used to shag flies during batting practice while wearing an Indians uniform, as the Indians completed a three-game sweep of Boston in the Division Series.
The Shapiros may have changed their surname, but their love for Cleveland hasn’t.
“We were both happy, not just for the chance to come back, but happy for the staff and the organization and the players,” said Shapiro. But as he gets older, he discovers about the game, and just like me, he’s a die-hard Toronto Blue Jay now, but we both have a Cleveland Indians affinity. They will always play a significant role in our history and daily lives.”
