Ex-Dodgers President Dennis Mannion hired by Pistons

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Departed Dodgers executives don’t fade into oblivion, they just reappear somewhere else. Preferably with a boss who actually cares about being successful.

Dennis Mannion (pictured at right) is part of the carousel of changing upper management for the Dodgers that started almost from the moment Frank and Jamie McCourt bought the team and has continued unabated, almost unbelievably, ever since.

Mannion succeeded Jamie as team president when she was fired at the end of the 2009 season by her hubby, Frank, over some dispute you may have heard about. Mannion has a business and marketing background in all three major professional sports.

He lasted one year, which must be about the average for a Dodgers executive, before he was fired without explanation. Mannion, as no doubt required as part of his exit package, never did comment on the reasons for his sudden dismissal.

Now, however, Mannion has re-emerged -– as ex-Dodgers executives tend to -– and is expected to be introduced next week as the chief executive of Sports Palace and Entertainment, parent company of the Detroit Pistons.

Just to make it more fun, the Pistons were purchased in June by Tom Gores of Los Angeles, who along with brother Alec was one of the many billionaires rumored to be interested in purchasing the Dodgers. For what it’s worth, Tom Gores has denied any such interest.

In a deposition, Mannion ripped Jamie McCourt’s contributions to the Dodgers, so it’s not like he was one of the herd of Jamie loyalists fired by Frank. That crowd, of course, included vice president of marketing Dr. Charles Steinberg.

Steinberg, curiously, is now the senior advisor for public affairs to Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Anyway, I bet Frank finds it curious.

When Frank fired the likable Mannion, he claimed he was going to take over the day-to-day operations of the club. That never happened. That sort of fell on Chief Operating Officer Geoffrey Wharton, who, you will be shocked to know, disappeared from the club this season, again without explanation.

Still more shocking, no one seems to have a clue who’s in charge of the team’s day-to-day operations these days. Although for job security, that’s probably a very good idea.

-- Steve Dilbeck