# The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award

The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award was established in 1936 and is given annually to one executive, including general managers, in Major League Baseball (MLB). The presenting company is The Sporting News, formerly known as Sporting News from 2002 to 2022. Listed below in chronological order are the baseball executives chosen as recipients of the award.
The first recipient of the award was Branch Rickey, who went on to win the award a total of three times, twice with the St. Louis Cardinals and once with the Brooklyn Dodgers. George Weiss, who had a long and fruitful career as an executive with the New York Yankees, has the most wins, four, with three of them coming consecutively in 1950–1952. The most recent repeat winner of the award is Billy Beane, who won the award in 1999, 2012, and 2018, all with the Oakland Athletics. Executives with the Yankees of the American League have won the award eight times, more than any other team. In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals have the most wins, with seven. There has been one instance of the award being presented to an MLB executive rather than a team executive; Lee MacPhail in 1966.

## Key

| Year | Links to an article about the corresponding MLB season |
| Player (X) | Denotes winning executive and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one) |
| Bold | The winning executive's team won the World Series that same year |
| ^ | Indicates multiple award winners in the same year |
| † | Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as an executive |

## Award winners

| Year | Name | Team | League |
| 1936 | Branch Rickey (1)$^†$ | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 1937 | Ed Barrow (1)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1938 | Warren Giles$^†$ | Cincinnati Reds | National |
| 1939 | Larry MacPhail$^†$ | Brooklyn Dodgers | National |
| 1940 | Walter Briggs Sr. | Detroit Tigers | American |
| 1941 | Ed Barrow (2)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1942 | Branch Rickey (2)$^†$ | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 1943 | Clark Griffith$^†$ | Washington Senators | American |
| 1944 | Bill DeWitt | St. Louis Browns | American |
| 1945 | Phil Wrigley | Chicago Cubs | National |
| 1946 | Tom Yawkey$^†$ | Boston Red Sox | American |
| 1947 | Branch Rickey (3)$^†$ | Brooklyn Dodgers | National |
| 1948 | Bill Veeck (1)$^†$ | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 1949 | Bob Carpenter | Philadelphia Phillies | National |
| 1950 | George Weiss (1)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1951 | George Weiss (2)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1952 | George Weiss (3)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1953 | Lou Perini | Milwaukee Braves | National |
| 1954 | Horace Stoneham | New York Giants | National |
| 1955 | Walter O'Malley$^†$ | Brooklyn Dodgers | National |
| 1956 | Gabe Paul (1) | Cincinnati Redlegs | National |
| 1957 | Frank Lane | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 1958 | Joe L. Brown | Pittsburgh Pirates | National |
| 1959 | Buzzie Bavasi | Los Angeles Dodgers | National |
| 1960 | George Weiss (4)$^†$ | New York Yankees | American |
| 1961 | Dan Topping | New York Yankees | American |
| 1962 | Fred Haney | Los Angeles Angels | American |
| 1963 | Bing Devine (1) | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 1964 | Bing Devine (2) | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 1965 | Calvin Griffith | Minnesota Twins | American |
| 1966 | Lee MacPhail$^†$ | MLB Chief Assistant | — |
| 1967 | Dick O'Connell (1) | Boston Red Sox | American |
| 1968 | Jim Campbell | Detroit Tigers | American |
| 1969 | Johnny Murphy | New York Mets | National |
| 1970 | Harry Dalton (1) | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 1971 | Cedric Tallis | Kansas City Royals | American |
| 1972 | Roland Hemond (1) | Chicago White Sox | American |
| 1973 | Bob Howsam | Cincinnati Reds | National |
| 1974 | Gabe Paul (2) | New York Yankees | American |
| 1975 | Dick O'Connell (2) | Boston Red Sox | American |
| 1976 | Joe Burke | Kansas City Royals | American |
| 1977 | Bill Veeck (2)$^†$ | Chicago White Sox | American |
| 1978 | Spec Richardson | San Francisco Giants | National |
| 1979 | Hank Peters (1) | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 1980 | Tal Smith | Houston Astros | National |
| 1981 | John McHale | Montreal Expos | National |
| 1982 | Harry Dalton (2) | Milwaukee Brewers | American |
| 1983 | Hank Peters (2) | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 1984 | Dallas Green | Chicago Cubs | National |
| 1985 | John Schuerholz$^†$ | Kansas City Royals | American |
| 1986 | Frank Cashen | New York Mets | National |
| 1987 | Al Rosen | San Francisco Giants | National |
| 1988 | Fred Claire | Los Angeles Dodgers | National |
| 1989 | Roland Hemond (2) | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 1990 | Bob Quinn | Cincinnati Reds | National |
| 1991 | Andy MacPhail | Minnesota Twins | American |
| 1992 | Dan Duquette (1) | Montreal Expos | National |
| 1993 | Lee Thomas | Philadelphia Phillies | National |
| 1994 | John Hart (1) | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 1995 | John Hart (2) | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 1996 | Doug Melvin | Texas Rangers | American |
| 1997 | Cam Bonifay | Pittsburgh Pirates | National |
| 1998 | Gerry Hunsicker | Houston Astros | National |
| 1999 | Billy Beane (1) | Oakland Athletics | American |
| 2000 | Walt Jocketty (1) | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 2001 | Pat Gillick$^†$ | Seattle Mariners | American |
| 2002 | Terry Ryan (1) | Minnesota Twins | American |
| 2003 | Brian Sabean | San Francisco Giants | National |
| 2004 | Walt Jocketty (2) | St. Louis Cardinals | National |
| 2005 | Mark Shapiro (1) | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 2006 | Terry Ryan (2) | Minnesota Twins | American |
| 2007 | Mark Shapiro (2) | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 2008 | Andrew Friedman | Tampa Bay Rays | American |
| 2009 | Dan O'Dowd | Colorado Rockies | National |
| 2010 | Walt Jocketty (3) | Cincinnati Reds | National |
| 2011^ | Dave Dombrowski | Detroit Tigers | American |
| 2011^ | Doug Melvin (2) | Milwaukee Brewers | National |
| 2012 | Billy Beane (2) | Oakland Athletics | American |
| 2013 | Ben Cherington | Boston Red Sox | American |
| 2014 | Dan Duquette (2) | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 2015 | Alex Anthopoulos | Toronto Blue Jays | American |
| 2016 | Theo Epstein | Chicago Cubs | National |
| 2017 | Chris Antonetti | Cleveland Indians | American |
| 2018 | Billy Beane (3) | Oakland Athletics | American |
| 2019 | Erik Neander | Tampa Bay Rays | American |
| 2020 | Rick Hahn | Chicago White Sox | American |
| 2021 | Farhan Zaidi | San Francisco Giants | National |
| 2022 | Chris Antonetti (2) | Cleveland Guardians | American |
| 2023 | Mike Elias | Baltimore Orioles | American |
| 2024 | Matt Arnold | Milwaukee Brewers | National |
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