Dan O'Brien, Sr.

Daniel F. O'Brien
(Danny)

• School Seton Hall University, Florida Southern College
• High School Thomas Jefferson High School (Elizabeth)

• Born March 26, 1929 in Elizabeth, NJ USA
• Died January 16, 2017 in Dallas, TX USA

Biographical Information

Dan O'Brien began his baseball career in 1955 as the general manager of the Burlington-Graham Pirates. His minor league career would last 18 years. After that inital season he would serve as general manager for the Boise Braves (1956-1958), Jacksonville Braves (1959), Louisville Colonels (1960-1962) and the Greenville Braves (1963). He then served as assistant to the president of the National Association from 1964 to 1973.

In 1974 O'Brien moved up to the major leagues taking over the GM position for the Texas Rangers. After leaving the Rangers following the 1978 season he moved on to become president of the Seattle Mariners from 1979 to 1980, and GM of the Mariners from 1981 to 1983. From 1986 to 1989 he was assistant GM of the Cleveland Indians, 1990 to 1991 assistant GM of the California Angels and 1991 to 1993 GM of the Angels.

In 1994 O'Brien began working in the baseball operations department of the Arizona Fall League, where he stayed until 1996. He then served as Executive Director of USA Baseball from 1997-2000. In 2002 he was elected to the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame.

His son, Dan Jr., was GM of the Cincinnati Reds at one time.

Preceded by Joe Burke

Texas Rangers General Manager 1974-1978

Succeeded by Eddie Robinson

Preceded by Lou Gorman

Seattle Mariners General Manager 1981-1983

Succeeded by Hal Keller

Preceded by Mike Port

California Angels General Manager 1991-1993

Succeeded by Whitey Herzog

Record as a General Manager

Draft Picks

1st Round - Rangers

• 1974: 2nd overall P Tommy Boggs - Lanier High School (Austin)
• 1975: 17th overall P Jim Gideon - University of Texas at Austin
• 1976: 12th overall OF Billy Simpson - Lakewood High School
• 1977: 9th overall SS David Hibner - Howell High School
• 1978: No Pick (Lost for signing Mike Jorgensen)

Other Notable Selections - Rangers

• 1974: 4th round (74th overall) P Jim Clancy - St. Rita of Cascia High School
• 1976: 10th round (228th overall) OF Billy Sample - James Madison University
• 1977: 1st round (10th overall) P Dave Righetti - San Jose City College January draft
• 1978: 28th round (202nd overall) SS Wayne Tolleson - Western Carolina University

1st Round - Mariners

• 1981: 1st overall P Mike Moore - Oral Roberts University
• 1982: 6th overall SS Spike Owen - University of Texas at Austin
• 1983: 7th overall P Darrel Akerfelds - Mesa State College
• 1983: 17th overall C Terry Bell - Old Dominion University

Other Notable Selections - Mariners

• 1981: 2nd round (35th overall) P Mark Langston - San Jose State University
• 1981: 3rd round (53rd overall) OF Phil Bradley - University of Missouri
• 1982: 6th round (138th ovreall) 1B Alvin Davis - Arizona State University

1st Round - Angels

• 1991: 17th overall 1B Eduardo Perez - Florida State University
• 1991: 34th overall C Jorge Fabregas - University of Miami
• 1992: 8th overall P Pete Janicki - UCLA
• 1992: 29th overall P Jeff Schmidt - University of Minnesota
• 1993: 3rd overall P Brian Anderson - Wright State University

Other Notable Selections - Angels

• 1991: 43rd round (1126th overall) SS Aaron Boone - Villa Park High School Did Not Sign

Significant Trades

Rangers

• November 20, 1973 traded Larry Biittner to the Montreal Expos for Pat Jarvis
• June 13, 1975 traded Jim Bibby, Rick Waits and Jackie Brown to the Cleveland Indians for Gaylord Perry
• November 17, 1975 traded Fergie Jenkins to the Boston Red Sox for Steve Barr, Juan Beniquez and Craig Skok
• December 10, 1975 traded Jim Spencer and cash to the California Angels for Bill Singer
• June 1, 1976 traded Bill Singer, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Jim Gideon and cash to the Minnesota Twins for Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson
• December 9, 1976 traded Jeff Burroughs to the Atlanta Braves for Adrian Devine, Carl Morton, Ken Henderson, Dave May, Roger Moret and cash
• August 20, 1977 traded Ed Kirkpatrick to the Milwaukee Brewers for Gorman Thomas
• December 8, 1977 in a four team trade sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves and Tom Grieve & Ken Henderson to the New York Mets and Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Al Oliver and Nelson Norman from Pittsburgh and Jon Matlack from New York.
• January 25, 1978 traded Gaylord Perry to the San Diego Padres for Dave Tomlin and cash
• May 16, 1978 traded Claudell Washington and Rusty Torres to the Chicago White Sox for Bobby Bonds

Mariners

• December 12, 1980 traded Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, Larry Cox, Leon Roberts and Willie Horton to the Texas Rangers for Richie Zisk, Ken Clay, Rick Auerbach, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard and Steve Finch
• October 23, 1981 traded Bud Black to the Kansas City Royals for Manny Castillo
• December 11, 1981 traded Tom Paciorek to the Chicago White Sox for Todd Cruz, Jim Essian and Rod Allen
• April 1, 1982 traded Shane Rawley to the New York Yankees for Bobby Brown, Gene Nelson and Bill Caudill

Angels

• December 2, 1990 traded Devon White, Willie Fraser and Marcus Moore to the Toronto Blue Jays for Junior Felix, Luis Sojo and Ken Rivers
• May 14, 1991 traded Dante Bichette to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dave Parker
• December 8, 1991 traded Kyle Abbott and Ruben Amaro to the Philadelphia Phillies for Von Hayes
• December 10, 1991 traded Dave Gallagher to the New York Mets for Hubie Brooks
• December 6, 1992 traded Jim Abbott to the New York Yankees for J.T. Snow, Jerry Nielsen and Russ Springer

Significant Signings

Rangers

• May 10, 1976 signed Danny Darwin as a amateur Free Agent
• November 17, 1976 signed Bert Campaneris as a free agent from Oakland A's
• November 23, 1976 signed Doyle Alexander as a free agent from New York Yankees

Mariners

• December 5, 1982 signed Gaylord Perry as a free agent from Atlanta Braves
• December 19, 1982 signed Edgar Martinez as a amateur free agent

Angels

• January 23, 1991 signed Gary Gaetti as a free agent from Minnesota Twins
• February 11, 1993 signed Scott Sanderson as a free agent New York Yankees
• May 23, 1993 signed Bengie Molina as a amateur free agent

Related Sites

• Obituary from mlb.com