Brian Graham (born April 9, 1960 in San Diego, California) is an American former Major League Baseball coach (Indians, Orioles), former MLB Front Office Executive (Pirates, Orioles), minor league player (A’s, Brewers, Tigers, Indians) and minor league manager and coach (Indians).
Brian is currently the on-field director of the MLB Draft Combine, the Executive Director of the MLB Appalachian League, and the owner of Hardcore Elite Baseball organization. In 2021, Brian was an Advance Scout for the USA Olympic Baseball team.
Brian is the only minor league manager/major league coach in professional baseball history to have his teams reach the playoffs for 10 consecutive years at the A, AA, AAA and Major League level. Graham received the Professional Baseball Chief Bender Award for “Most Outstanding Personnel in Player Development”.
Brian is a Lifetime Member of the Major League Baseball Alumni Association, and a Major League Baseball Lifetime Gold Member.
Graham attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he played both baseball and football. When he finished his collegiate career, Graham held school records for most hits, stolen bases, and runs scored.[1] In football, Graham was a member of the 1978 Fiesta Bowl team.[2] In 1996, he was inducted into UCLA’s Baseball Hall of Fame. Brian received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Behavioral Sciences from National University.
In 1982, Graham was chosen in the fourth round of the 1982 draft by the Oakland Athletics,[3] and he played in theminor league systems of Oakland, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Detroit Tigers, and the Cleveland Indians over the next five years as a second baseman.
In nine seasons as a minor league manager in the Cleveland Indians organization, Graham's teams finished above .500 each year, compiling a 704-491 (.589) record. Graham managed eight consecutive playoff teams. He was named the Carolina League's Manager of the Year in 1991 while leading the Kinston Indians to a championship, the “Best Managerial Prospect” by Eastern League managers and Baseball America in 1993 and Minor League Manager of the Year by USA Today's Baseball Weekly in 1996 while with the Buffalo Bisons (winning a championship in 1997). Graham has also managed in the Dominican Republic Winter League for Aguilas (1991) and has also coached and managed in the Arizona Fall League (1993–94).[4] [5]
Graham was a major league coach with the Cleveland Indians in 1998 and 1999 and with the Baltimore Orioles in 2000. Graham spent the 2001 season as the Field Coordinator for the Florida Marlins.
Graham was signed to the Pirates on December 3, 2001 and eventually rose to be the senior director for player development. In that position, he coordinated instruction and oversaw the signing of free agents, staffing, budgets, player movement, affiliate relationships and the Latin American field operations. In addition, he installed and implemented a system of individual player plans which provided instruction and resources to insure the individual development of every Pirate player. In 2002, the Pirates were honored as the Topps' Baseball “Organization of the Year.”
On September 7, 2007, he was appointed interim general manager of the Pirates after the dismissal of Dave Littlefield.[6] On October 5, 2007, he was fired along with manager Jim Tracy, scouting director Ed Creech, and director of baseball operations Jon Mercurio.[7]
Graham was named special assignment coach for the minor leagues for the Baltimore Orioles on October 30, 2007.[8] Graham was named director of player development for the Baltimore Orioles in 2013. His 2012 and 2013 seasons as an Orioles executive were portrayed in a 2021 memoir called Clubbie from the Aberdeen IronBirds' clubhouse attendant, Greg Larson.[9]
In early October 2018, Graham was named as the Interim General Manager in the wake of the firings of Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter.
Brian Graham resides in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, with his wife Karen. He has three children, Jack, Kelsey, and Kendall, and three grandchildren, Kinsley, Brady, and Emerson.