Gord Ash

• Born December 20, 1951 in Toronto, ON Canada

Biographical Information

Gord Ash worked in the Toronto Blue Jays front office for many years, after starting off in ticket sales in 1978, before becoming the team's General Manager on October 14, 1994. He remained in that position until 2001. Prior to becoming GM, Ash was an operations supervisor in 1979, assistant director of operations in 1980-1984, player personnel administrator in 1985-1988 and assistant GM in 1989-1994. Ash has been Assistant GM of the Milwaukee Brewers since 2003, where he worked for fellow Canadian Doug Melvin. In 2015, he was named the Brewers' Vice-Persident of Baseball Projects.

He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Preceded by Pat Gillick

Toronto Blue Jays General Manager 1995-2001

Succeeded by J.P. Ricciardi

Record as a General manager

Draft Picks

1st Round

• 1995: 17th overall P Roy Halladay - Arvada West High School
• 1996: 4th overall P Billy Koch - Clemson University
• 1996: 16th overall SS Joe Lawrence - Barbe High School
• 1996: 31st overall 1B Peter Tucci - Providence College
• 1997: 5th overall OF Vernon Wells - Bowie High School
• 1998: 8th overall 3B Felipe Lopez - Lake Brantley High School
• 1999: 19th overall OF Alexis Rios - San Pedro Martir High School
• 2000: 18th overall OF Miguel Negron - Manuela Toro High School
• 2000: 33rd overall P Dustin McGowan - Long County High School
• 2001: 15th overall OF Gabe Gross - Auburn University

Other Notable Selections

• 1995: 10th round (272nd overall) 2B Ryan Freel - Tallahassee Community College
• 1997: 5th round (149th overall) SS Michael Young - University of California, Santa Barbara
• 1997: 43rd round (1280th overall) SS Orlando Hudson - Spartanburg Methodist College
• 1998: 14th round (411th overall) 1B Jay Gibbons - California State University, Los Angeles
• 1999: 17th round (523rd overall) OF Reed Johnson - California State University, Fullerton

Significant Trades

• April 6, 1995 traded Chris Stynes, David Sinnes and Tony Medrano to the Kansas City Royals for David Cone
• July 28, 1995 traded David Cone to the New York Yankees for Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis and Mike Gordon
• November 14, 1996 traded Jose Silva, Brandon Cromer, Jose Pett, Craig Wilson, Abraham Nunez and Mike Halperin to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Orlando Merced, Dan Plesac and Carlos Garcia.
• December 20, 1996 traded John Olerud to the New York Mets for Robert Person
• July 31, 1997 traded Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin to the Seattle Mariners for Jose Cruz Jr.
• July 31, 1998 traded Juan Guzman to the Baltimore Orioles for Nerio Rodriguez and Shannon Carter
• December 12, 1998 traded Carlos Almanzar, Woody Williams and Peter Tucci to the San Diego Padres for Joey Hamilton
• February 18, 1999 traded Roger Clemens to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Homer Bush and Graeme Lloyd
• June 12, 1999 traded Dan Plesac to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Tony Batista and John Frascatore
• November 8, 1999 traded Shawn Green and Jorge Nunez to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Raul Mondesi and Pedro Borbon
• November 11, 1999 traded Pat Hentgen and Paul Spoljaric to the St. Louis Cardinals for Alberto Castillo, Lance Painter and Matt DeWitt
• March 16, 2000 in a three team trade sent David Segui to the Texas Rangers and received Brad Fullmer from the Montreal Expos
• July 19, 2000 traded Michael Young and Darwin Cubillan to the Texas Rangers for Esteban Loaiza
• January 14, 2001 traded David Wells and Matt DeWitt to the Chicago White Sox for Kevin Beirne, Brian Simmons, Mike Sirotka and Mike Williams (due to undisclosed injuries at the time, Williams and DeWitt were sent back to the original teams)

Significant Signings

• December 9, 1996 signed Benito Santiago as a Free Agent from Philadelphia Phillies
• December 13, 1996 signed Roger Clemens as a free agent from Boston Red Sox
• November 26, 1997 signed Darrin Fletcher as a free agent from Montreal Expos
• November 26, 1997 signed Randy Myers as a free agent from Baltimore Orioles
• February 4, 1998 signed Jose Canseco as a free agent from Oakland A's