leave while the party’s good: the life and legacy of baseball executive harry dalton

Harry Dalton was a front office executive in Major League Baseball for more than forty years, serving as general manager for the Baltimore Orioles (1966-71), the California Angels (1972-77), and the Milwaukee Brewers (1978-91). He was the principal architect of the Orioles’ dynasty and of the only American League Championship the Brewers ever won.

In this definitive biography of Dalton (1928-2005), Lee C. Kluck tells the full and colorful story of a man many consider the first modern baseball executive. In 1965 the Orioles hired Dalton to be the chief team builder and to oversee baseball operations. This was a turning point in the history of baseball, creating a new kind of executive that other teams soon began to model. In Leave While the Party’s Good Kluck details Dalton’s pre-baseball life, showing that from an early age he developed traits that would shape the rest of his life in baseball. Dalton’s early career in Baltimore, building up the organization’s farm system, would inform his later days in higher management and help turn the Orioles into a dynasty. Dalton’s move to California coincided with the arrival of free agency, forcing him to evolve his team-building approach. Following his departure from the California Angels after trading for the pieces that would make them winners in 1978, Dalton hired on with the Milwaukee Brewers’ owner Bud Selig and made the Brewers a winning team for most of the next decade, including another pennant in 1982.

Dalton won with big payrolls and small ones. He won before and after free agency. He built winning teams from nothing. Leave While the Party’s Good details all this and gives insight into how his legacy continues to influence baseball today.

Lee C. Kluck is a sports historian from Wisconsin. He is a frequent contributor to the Society for American Baseball Research. This is his first book.