John Mozeliak was born on January 18,1969 and is an American baseball executive who is the president of baseball operations of the St Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball.
19 Facts About John Mozeliak
2.
Never a professional baseball player, Mozeliak came to the Cardinals as Walt Jocketty's assistant in 1995 and became the organization's twelfth General Manager after the 2007 season.
3.
The winner of three Executive of the Year awards, John Mozeliak has overseen the Cardinals make playoff appearances in six years, win one World Series title, and two National League pennants.
4.
John Mozeliak played for the school's baseball team as a pitcher and first baseman.
5.
John Mozeliak attended the University of Arizona, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, before ultimately graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
6.
John Mozeliak began to work with Bob Gebhard, the Rockies' general manager, and Walt Jocketty, the assistant GM.
7.
John Mozeliak served as an assistant within the scouting department and later spent five seasons as Jocketty's assistant GM.
8.
The next season, John Mozeliak was promoted to scouting director and oversaw the drafting of talent such as Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.
9.
John Mozeliak garnered much attention as a major up-and-coming GM in the industry and interviewed with the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros.
10.
In 2009, John Mozeliak acquired slugger Matt Holliday in a trade with the Oakland Athletics and signed him to the richest contract in team history the following January, valued at $116 million.
11.
However, John Mozeliak, who had developed a strong working relationship with DeWitt, persuaded him to sign Holliday for seven years at $17 million per year.
12.
The Cardinals announced that John Mozeliak endorsed a new three-year contract extension with the team through 2013 on July 15,2010.
13.
John Mozeliak brandished what proved to be the one of the exceptional in-season moves to shape the 2011 season on July 27.
14.
John Mozeliak traded the highly regarded but troubled center fielder Colby Rasmus, relievers Trever Miller, P J Walters and Brian Tallet to the Toronto Blue Jays for starter Edwin Jackson, relievers Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski, outfielder Corey Patterson and three players to be named or cash.
15.
John Mozeliak's skillful hitting continued in the playoffs, as he hit an RBI single in Game 5 against the Washington Nationals in the NLDS that ultimately proved to be the game and series winner, allowing the Cardinals to advance to the NLCS.
16.
John Mozeliak defended the contract, stating that the Cardinals were not self-appointed "morality police".
17.
John Mozeliak cited his work ethic as another factor in the extension.
18.
On June 30,2017, John Mozeliak was promoted to President of Baseball Operations, while Assistant GM Mike Girsch was named the new vice president and general manager of the Cardinals.
19.
John Mozeliak is the National Trustee for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.