Gorman resumed his baseball career in
1962 as an executive in the
minor leagues when he became general manager with the Class D
Lakeland Giants in the
San Francisco Giants' system, then, in 1963 with the Single-A
Kinston Eagles in the
Pittsburgh Pirates' chain. Gorman joined the
Baltimore Orioles' Major League front office in as assistant farm system director, working under
Harry Dalton. He was promoted to director of player development in
1966, when the Orioles won their first
World Series championship. In , Gorman became the first farm system director in the history of the
Kansas City Royals, where he eventually also assumed control of the team's
scouting department. For his efforts, he was promoted to vice president in and assistant general manager in . But he soon departed for a new expansion team when he was appointed director of baseball operations (in effect, chief baseball officer) of the
Seattle Mariners when they entered the
American League in
1977; he later was formally appointed the club's general manager. Although the under-capitalized Mariners struggled during Gorman's four seasons in Seattle—they posted a 246–400 (
.381) record from 1977–1980 with two last-place finishes in the
AL West—he obtained early Mariner standout
Ruppert Jones in the
1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft (from his old Royals' organization) and drafted
centerfielder Dave Henderson with his first-ever No. 1 choice in the June
1977 Major League Baseball draft. After building the Seattle organization from scratch, he returned to the East Coast as vice president, player personnel, of the
New York Mets in
1980. Working under Mets' GM
Frank Cashen, with whom Gorman served with the Orioles, he helped lay the foundation for the Mets'
1986 World Series championship—achieved at the expense of his next team, the Red Sox.
Red Sox general manager In the months preceding the
1984 season, the Red Sox were embroiled in a legal dispute involving two ownership factions seeking control of the team. Gorman was named vice president of baseball operations in the Boston front office on February 2, 1984; then, four months later, when the legal case was settled, he was officially appointed vice president and general manager, succeeding co-owner
Haywood Sullivan, who moved up to chief executive officer. When Gorman took on the general manager job June 6, the Red Sox already had players like
Roger Clemens,
Wade Boggs,
Dwight Evans and
Bob Stanley, stars that would form the nucleus of the talented Red Sox teams of the late 1980s. However, it was Gorman's acquisitions (from the Mariners) of Dave Henderson and
Spike Owen and closer
Calvin Schiraldi (from the Mets) that helped lead the Red Sox to the
1986 World Series. In the spring of 1987, unhappy about his contract, Roger Clemens left
spring training, which prompted Gorman to quip, "The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I'll have lunch." Though the team made it back to the playoffs in
1988 and
1990, it never got any closer to a championship than it had in 1986. Gorman made several key trades, such as picking up
Nick Esasky and
Rob Murphy from
Cincinnati and getting closer
Lee Smith for World Series goat Schiraldi and pitcher
Al Nipper, but he made mistakes as well. It was Gorman who traded away future
All-Stars Jeff Bagwell,
Curt Schilling, and
Brady Anderson in pennant-stretch deals. The Boston farm system, which had produced players such as
Mike Greenwell,
Ellis Burks,
Jody Reed and
Todd Benzinger early in Gorman's tenure, developed everyday players such as
Mo Vaughn,
John Valentin,
Aaron Sele,
Tim Naehring,
Carlos Quintana and
Scott Hatteberg in the early 1990s, but the flow of talent was not enough to keep the club at the forefront of its division. The Red Sox were unable to retain free agents
Bruce Hurst, Esasky and
Mike Boddicker (a front-line starting pitcher acquired for Schilling and Brady Anderson in 1988), and when the team returned to the free agent marketplace after the season, catcher
Tony Peña and pitchers
Jeff Reardon and
Danny Darwin approached expectations, while high-profile signings
Jack Clark,
Frank Viola and
Matt Young were major disappointments. The Red Sox won another
AL East title in 1990, but it was the trade involving Bagwell, at the time a third base prospect in the minor leagues, that would ultimately come back to haunt the team the most. Looking to strengthen the bullpen, Gorman traded him to the
Houston Astros for relief pitcher
Larry Andersen. Andersen pitched just 15 games for the Red Sox before being declared a
free agent as a result of the
second collusion settlement, while Bagwell would spend his entire 15-year career with the Astros, evolving into one of the most productive and consistent power hitters in major league history. Thus, the trade is now reckoned as one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history, especially as Bagwell was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame. Some analysts are less critical of Gorman making a deal to acquire Andersen, and more critical of Gorman selecting Bagwell as the third base prospect to send to Houston rather than
Scott Cooper. After 1990, the Red Sox faded from contention. They finished a distant second in
1991, and in
1992 collapsed all the way to last place for the first time in 60 years. After another losing campaign in
1993, wholesale changes were made in the Red Sox front office. Gorman was relieved of his general manager responsibilities on November 10, becoming senior vice president of baseball operations. Two weeks later,
John Harrington, who as executive director of the
JRY Trust was the team's managing general partner, bought out minority general partner Sullivan to assume full control. Harrington then hired
Montreal Expos general manager
Dan Duquette (another native
New Englander) as Gorman's permanent successor in February 1994. In his nine full seasons as general manager, 1985 through 1993, the Red Sox compiled a 751–706 (.515)
win–loss record, with three division titles and one American League pennant. ==Late career==