Roland Hemond (center), with White Sox rookie outfielder Ron Kittle (left) and Edmonton Oilers’ hockey sensation Wayne Gretzky on May 3, 1983, before a game in Chicago. (AP Photo/John Swart) | AP
Roland Hemond, a beloved baseball executive who served as White Sox general manager from 1970-85, died in his sleep Sunday night, according to multiple reports. He was 92.
Roland Hemond, a beloved baseball executive who served as White Sox general manager from 1970-85, died in his sleep Sunday night, according to multiple reports. He was 92.
Honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, Hemond served under three Sox owners — John W. Allyn, Bill Veeck and Jerry Reinsdorf — overseeing the AL West champion 1983 Sox team and 1977 South Side Hitmen squad. Hemond’s acquisition of Dick Allen in a trade with the Dodgers helped save a franchise that was struggling at the gate in 1970, and he was named Executive of the Year by the Sporting News in 1972 after Allen and the runnerup Sox challenged the World Series champion Oakland Athletics in the AL West.
Hemond, who gave Tony La Russa his first manager’s job, was a special advisor to Sox GM Ken Williams during the Sox’ 2005 World Series championship season. He played key roles in building the expansion Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks from the ground up.
Hemond was known for his kindness and integrity as well as his baseball expertise.
“When you read a description of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award — character, integrity, dignity, extraordinary efforts and positive impact, you truly are reading a description of Roland Hemond,” Reinsdorf said in 2011.
“Roland Hemond is, and always will be respected in the sport of baseball,” the Major League Baseball Players Association tweeted Monday. “His impact on the game will remain legendary.”
Hemond began his career as working at the ballpark of a Boston Braves minor league club in Hartford, Conn., typed scouting reports for the Braves in 1951 and rose to assistant farm director.
In addition to serving as GM for the Sox, Hemond had the same role with the Baltimore Orioles from 1988-95, was senior executive vice president of the Diamondbacks from 1996 to 2000 and was an executive adviser for the Sox from 2001 to 2007. Hemond served in executive offices for seven teams.
In addition to his 1972 Executive of the Year Award, Hemond claimed the the same honor from United Press International as White Sox GM in 1983, as well as the Sporting News honor with the Orioles in 1989.
Hemond worked in baseball as recently as 2017 as a special assistant to the president with the Diamondbacks.
He is survived by his wife, Margo; five children — Susan, Tere, Robert, Jay, and Ryan — and grandchildren.
