Friedman knows all about building title contenders
Executive oversaw Rays’ rise before turning Dodgers into a powerhouse
ARLINGTON, Texas — Andrew Friedman isn’t quite torn.
The Dodgers’ president of baseball operations since October 2014, he helped build Los Angeles into a power that reached the World Series for the third time in four seasons.
He had been Tampa Bay’s executive vice president of baseball operations since 2006, building a team that reached the World Series in 2008, overseeing the acquisition of Kevin Kiermaier, Blake Snell and Diego Castillo and a staff with many holdovers still in place.
With the Dodgers, he oversaw the acquisition of Mookie Betts and Brusdar Graterol, the drafting of Walker Buehler and the signing of A.J. Pollock, Max Muncy and Blake Treinen.
“It kind of hit me today waking up and processing all the text messages and questions about it,” Friedman said
election. It’s become more of a topic of conversation.”
Hefter got help from Darryl Blackstock, who is the William & Mary outside linebackers coach. The former NFL player and University of Virginia standout serves as the faculty adviser of SAAC and pushed the initiative forward to get everyone registered.
“He put that on his shoulders and then we kind of followed suit and all worked together on it,” Hefter said. “It was a great moment for us.”
Hefter said having no games this fall because of COVID-19 gave them more time and energy to push the issue. They sent representatives to each team to facilitate a registration process and make sure everybody knew how to do it.
“No one is not going to not register when given the opportunity to have 10 minutes to do it right then,” he said. “It was satisfying to see the 100 percent, but our work is not done.”
He’s right. Now that they got everyone registered, the next question is how do they get those same persons to turn out Nov. 3 to vote.
“That is a great question,” Hefter said with a chuckle. “I wish I could tell you just my faith in humanity that it will be a 100%, but we got to be real. That’s an extra step of effort. … As we get closer to it, we have to continue to put pressure on these student-athletes to get out and vote. That’s on us as a student-athlete leadership group. It’s on administration and coach Blackstock. We’re going to keep that weight on our shoulder to make sure we get it done.”
Hefter is encouraged by what he’s seen by other athletes too.
During the NBA playoffs, he said it was good to see many players who wore the word “Vote” on the back of the jerseys, including Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, who went a step further when he made his Atlanta-based training facility available as an early voting center ahead of the 2020 general election.
“That was something that was influential and effective,” Hefter said. “It gives you sense of community among athletes, even though we don’t even know these professional athletes. If we’re all carrying about the same stuff, it makes you feel like you’re on the same page as some of the people that you look up to.”
With election day less than two weeks away, Hefter is excited.
“It’s hard to not get political in these times,” said Hefter, who is a finance major with a minor in history. “It’s an extremely important election.”