Mark Shapiro has faced plenty of skepticism since taking over as BlueJays president and CEO. Being disliked isn't something he's afraid of. Stephen Brunt sat down with him in the latest Open Invitation.
The story really begins in the fall of 2014. Mark Shapiro was still comfortably ensconced as the president of the Cleveland Indians when news leaked out that thewere making inquiries about a possible replacement for one of the legendary figures in the history of the franchise.
When the Jays ownership began talking to Shapiro about the job, the magic of 2015 hadn’t yet kicked in. Shapiro was widely admired in baseball circles, and for ownership looking to change the team’s course both on the field and as a business, his hiring made perfect sense. Shapiro and the general manager he hired, Ross Atkins, had a very different personal and professional style than Beeston and Anthopoulos. If the Jays had flopped again in 2015, “different” would have almost certainly been viewed as a positive. Instead, even after the Jays returned to the post-season in 2016, the new guys were met with skepticism, at times with outright hostility, as though they had appropriated someone else’s miracle.
But, as Shapiro would be the first to acknowledge, the only thing that will really change the conversation is winning – and even if that comes to pass, there will be some fans who will remain resistant to conversion.
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