'True partnership' between Detroit Tigers' Scott Harris, Jeff Greenberg began at Wrigley Field
In 2012, Jeff Greenberg opened the door for Scott Harris.
Harris stepped inside Wrigley Field.
Greenberg, an intern in the Chicago Cubs' baseball operations department, walked Harris — who accepted a job as the Cubs' director of baseball operations — into the front office for the first time. Not long after that, Harris and Greenberg began to think about running a baseball team together.
"Literally, I think I was the first person in the organization Scott met at the Cubs, and then it just kind of went from there," Greenberg said Tuesday in the Tiger Club at Comerica Park, reflecting on events from more than a decade ago. "We probably spent almost every day together for that seven-year stretch. We got into our fair share of debates and arguments, but we learned a lot from each other. It was there from Day 1."
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Two brilliant minds climbed the ranks in the front office, learned from top executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series and were on the fast track to creating an opportunity to become a one-two punch at the top of the food chain within an organization.
Those dreams turned into reality last Thursday, when the Detroit Tigers officially hired Greenberg, the associate general manager of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, as their 20th general manager in franchise history.
The Tigers hired Harris as their president of baseball operations in September 2022. Harris targeted Greenberg, whom he thinks can help unearth new ideas and increase the winning percentage on the field, as his second-in-command in Detroit.
"There isn't really a blueprint for the president/general manager structure," Harris said Tuesday. "Many front offices do it differently. We are going to structure it as a true partnership. We're not going to divide departments between us. I think we share the belief that two minds are better than one on the most complex issues that are facing the Tigers. ... We're going to treat it as a partnership."
Greenberg feels ready for his newest challenge.
"I did my homework," Greenberg said. "It was very clear that there's positive momentum in a lot of directions, on the minor-league side and on the major-league side. There are gaps that still exist, and we're going to continue to work as a group to close those, but it was very clear the momentum and positive direction that's been created. We're here, in part, to continue to move those things forward."
Greenberg started his front office career with the Cubs as a baseball operations intern in 2012, which happened to be the same year that Harris started his front office career as the director of baseball operations. Within three years, Greenberg became assistant to the general manager.
In January 2018, the Cubs promoted Harris to assistant general manager and Greenberg to director of baseball operations. Greenberg received his promotion to assistant general manager in November 2020. By that point, though, Harris had left the Cubs to become the general manager of the San Francisco Giants.
"I wouldn't discount how different we are now than when we were in the office at Wrigley together," Harris said. "We've done a lot of different things over the last few years. We've had a new set of experiences, and he certainly has in another sport. It's hard to predict the exact theme that we will disagree most on here, but reflecting on our time in Chicago, we disagreed on just about everything."
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In April 2022, the Blackhawks hired Greenberg away from the Cubs to take over as their associate general manager. He was responsible for overseeing the strategic systems and processes in hockey operations — thus building the analytics department — in his 16-month tenure.
A successful transition between professional sports, while making an immediate impact, is a rare accomplishment.
Harris brought Greenberg back to baseball.
"We both share a deep belief in healthy, challenging debate full of independent thought and full of disagreement," Harris said. "In this game and in these positions, it's easy to find people who agree. It's easy to find people who are eager to conform. It's a lot more difficult to find people who are going to stand up in a room, challenge the room to think differently about a problem and support their position with compelling evidence. I know Jeff is going to do that, and I know it's going to make our entire organization better."
Greenberg has family ties to baseball, as well.
His father, Chuck, graduated from University of Michigan Law School and founded Greenberg Sports Group. He owns the State College Spikes, Myrtle Beach Pelicans and Frisco RoughRiders in the minor leagues, and he once served as the managing partner and CEO of the Texas Rangers.
"I'm a baseball guy at heart," Greenberg said.
Greenberg, who graduated from Columbia Law School, enjoyed the challenge of a new sport during his brief stint with the Blackhawks, but when Harris called, he realized that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to return to baseball and work alongside an old friend as the Tigers' general manager.
This "true partnership" started at Wrigley Field, all those years ago.
"From my perspective, we spent way too many days in our 20s together in the office at Wrigley Field," Harris said. "But I wouldn't trade it for anything. ... I know he made me better, and I hope I made him better, and I know that we learned a lot from each other all those nights at Wrigley."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Scott Harris, Jeff Greenberg: A 'true partnership'
