Shapiro Named Top Exec ... Again

In trying to bring a World Series Championship to Cleveland, Mark Shapiro is putting himself in rather distinguished company. The Indians’ Executive Vice President and General Manager has been honored by The Sporting News as the 2007 MLB Executive of the Year. It is the second time in three seasons that Shapiro has won the distinguished award as he joins some illustrious other multiple winners.

Shapiro's predecessor, John Hart, was a back-to-back winner in 1994 and 1995 as other MLB executives recognized his role in transforming the Indians from losers into dominant winners in the American League.

Other multiple winners are George Weiss with four; legendary Branch Rickey with three; and Ed Barrow, Bing Devine, Gabe Paul, Dick O'Connell, Bill Veeck, Harry Dalton, Hank Peters, Roland Hemond and Walt Jocketty with two each.

Shapiro was presented with the award at the MLB general managers’ meetings in Orlando on Monday night.

In voting by 47 MLB executives, Shapiro received 13 votes. Dan O'Dowd, the Colorado Rockies' GM who was an assistant to Hart in Cleveland, was next with 11 votes.

In six seasons since succeeding Hart, Shapiro has completely rebuilt the organization, cutting the payroll in half while constructing a team that won 93 games in 2005 and 96 this season, when Cleveland tied the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox for the best regular season record at 96-66.

The Indians, ranking 23rd of 30 teams in payroll at $61.5 million, won the AL Central Division, then defeated the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series in four games. The Yankees have the top payroll in the game at nearly $200 million. Cleveland then took the club with the second-largest payroll, the $140 million Red Sox, to seven games before losing in the AL Championship Series.

THE SPORTING NEWS MLB EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

YEAR	EXECUTIVE	LEAGUE	TEAM
1936	Branch Rickey	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1937	Ed Barrow	AL	New York Yankees
1938	Warren Giles	NL	Cincinnati Reds
1939	Larry McPhail	NL	Brooklyn Dodgers
1940	Walter Briggs	AL	Detroit Tigers
1941	Ed Barrow (2)	AL	New York Yankees
1942	Branch Rickey (2)	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1943	Clark Griffith	AL	Washington Senators
1944	Billy DeWitt	AL	St. Louis Browns
1945	Phil Wrigley	NL	Chicago Cubs
1946	Tom Yawkey	AL	Boston Red Sox
1947	Branch Rickey (3)	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1948	Bill Veeck	AL	Cleveland Indians
1949	Bob Carpenter	NL	Philadelphia Phillies
1950	George Weiss	AL	New York Yankees
1951	George Weiss (2)	AL	New York Yankees
1952	George Weiss (3)	AL	New York Yankees
1953	Lou Perini	NL	Milwaukee Braves
1954	Horace Stoneham	NL	New York Giants
1955	Walter O'Malley	NL	Brooklyn Dodgers
1956	Gabe Paul	NL	Cincinnati Reds
1957	Frank Lane	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1958	Joe Brown	NL	Pittsburgh Pirates
1959	Buzzie Bavasi	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers
1960	George Weiss (4)	AL	New York Yankees
1961	Dan Topping	AL	New York Yankees
1962	Fred Haney	AL	Los Angeles Angels
1963	Bing Devine	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1964	Bing Devine (2)	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
1965	Calvin Griffith	AL	Minnesota Twins
1966	Lee McPhail	AL	Baltimore Orioles
1967	Dick O'Connell	AL	Boston Red Sox
1968	Jim Campbell	AL	Detroit Tigers
1969	John Murphy	NL	New York Mets
1970	Harry Dalton	AL	Baltimore Orioles
1971	Cedric Tallis	AL	Kansas City Royals
1972	Roland Hemond	AL	Chicago White Sox
1973	Bob Howsam	NL	Cincinnati Reds
1974	Gabe Paul (2)	AL	New York Yankees
1975	Dick O'Connell (2)	AL	Boston Red Sox
1976	Joe Burke	AL	Kansas City Royals
1977	Bill Veeck (2)	AL	Chicago White Sox
1978	Spec Richardson	NL	San Francisco Giants
1979	Hank Peters	AL	Baltimore Orioles
1980	Tal Smith	NL	Houston Astros
1981	John McHale	NL	Montreal Expos
1982	Harry Dalton (2)	AL	Milwaukee Brewers
1983	Hank Peters (2)	AL	Baltimore Orioles
1984	Dallas Green	NL	Chicago Cubs
1985	John Schuerholz	AL	Kansas City Royals
1986	Frank Cashen	NL	New York Mets
1987	Al Rosen	NL	San Francisco Giants
1988	Fred Claire	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers
1989	Roland Hemond (2)	AL	Baltimore Orioles
1990	Bob Quinn	NL	Cincinnati Reds
1991	Andy McPhail	AL	Minnesota Twins
1992	Dan Duquette	NL	Montreal Expos
1993	Lee Thomas	NL	Philadelphia Phillies
1994	John Hart	AL	Cleveland Indians
1995	John Hart (2)	AL	Cleveland Indians
1996	Doug Melvin	AL	Texas Rangers
1997	Cam Bonifay	NL	Pittsburgh Pirates
1998	Gerry Hunsicker	NL	Houston Astros
1999	Jim Bowden	NL	Cincinnati Reds
2000	Walt Jocketty	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
2001	Pat Gillick	AL	Seattle Mariners
2002	Terry Ryan	AL	Minnesota Twins
2003	Brian Sabean	NL	San Francisco Giants
2004	Walt Jocketty (2)	NL	St. Louis Cardinals
2005	Mark Shapiro	AL	Cleveland Indians
2006	Terry Ryan (2)	AL	Minnesota Twins
2007	Mark Shapiro (2)	AL	Cleveland Indians