The tragic death of Colorado Rockies president Keli McGregor was important for many reasons in sports.
By all accounts, McGregor was the rare executive who respected and cared for everyone from the general manager to the guy selling cotton candy.
At a human and professional level, McGregor is irreplaceable. He was a main architect of the Rockies’ organizational philosophy. After the Rockies’ revenues streams burned out at the end of its honeymoon period, and after flaming out with high-priced pitchers, the organization faced one of the more daunting tasks in sports history.
How do you build a baseball team at altitude with a moderate budget?
The challenges of baseball at a mile high are unique. After failed attempts to build based on particular on-field attributes, the Rockies and McGregor decided to go outside the box by looking within.
Concurrent to the rise in popularity of Moneyball metrics, the Rockies used personality profiles as a predominant measure.
The Rockies decided to value one’s ability to handle adversity — their character.
While the methodology has proven itself the last three years, it seems the most difficult test has just begun.
No team is better built to cope with the McGregor tragedy than the Rockies, which is not only a tribute to the man, but his philosophy that lives on.
