- published: 08 Feb 2016
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Richard Lynn "Sandy" Alderson (born November 22, 1947 in Seattle, Washington) is the general manager of the New York Mets. He previously served as an executive with the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and the commissioner's office of Major League Baseball.
The son of an Air Force pilot, John Lester Alderson, who flew missions during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Alderson attended Dartmouth College on a NROTC scholarship and graduated in 1969. He was born to mother Gwenny Parry Alderson. He then joined the United States Marine Corps and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1976. After law school, he worked for Farella Braun & Martel in San Francisco, California. He has two siblings Kristy and Dave and a wife, Linda Alderson and two kids, Bryn and Cate who both also went to Dartmouth.
Roy Eisenhardt, one of the firm's partners, left to become president of the Oakland Athletics when his father-in-law bought the team. In 1981, Alderson joined Eisenhardt to become the Athletics general counsel and in 1983 was named the team's general manager, a position he held through 1997. Under Alderson, the Athletics' minor league system was rebuilt, which bore fruit later that decade as José Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), and Walt Weiss (1988) were chosen as American League Rookies of the Year. The Athletics won four division titles, three pennants and the 1989 World Series during Alderson's tenure. In 1995, team owner Walter A. Haas, Jr. died and new owners Stephen Schott and Ken Hofmann ordered Alderson to slash payroll. As a result, Alderson began focusing on sabermetric principles toward obtaining relatively undervalued players. He was a mentor to his eventual successor, Billy Beane.