Sun., Dec. 11th:

Neal Huntington

"Neal Huntington was named Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 25, 2007, thus becoming the 12th G.M. in the history of the club. In this role, he is responsible for the entire baseball operations department which includes overseeing the Major League club and scouting and player development systems.

Prior to joining the Pirates, Neal worked as a Special Assistant to the General Manager for the 2007 American League Central Division champion Cleveland Indians. In his role as Special Assistant to the General Manager, Huntington served as an evaluator and advisor for Cleveland General Manager Mark Shapiro, providing recommendations regarding personnel, strategic planning and decision making. Neal also scouted major and minor league players and provided recommendations with respect to player evaluation, acquisition and retention. He also provided scouting evaluations on players within the Indians organization while doing advance scouting work for a portion of the Indians’ opponents.

Huntington began his association with the Indians in 1998 as the Assistant Director of Minor League operations. In November of 1998, Neal took over as Cleveland’s Director of Player Development. In that role he instilled a holistic developmental philosophy that focused on the systematic development of the person as well as the player. He also oversaw the Indians player development system, including Latin American Field Operations. After being promoted to the title of Assistant General Manager on November 1, 2001, Huntington assisted Shapiro in all areas of the day-to-day operation of the major league club, concentrating particularly in player evaluation, acquisition and retention.

Neal began his major league career in the Montreal Expos organization on June 1, 1992. He spent the 1994 campaign as the video advance scout for the Expos major league club and was then promoted to Assistant Director, Player Development after the 1994 season, where he assisted in all aspects of Montreal’s Player Development system.

PERSONAL: Neal Alden Huntington...Born on 2/4/69 in Amherst, NH...Wife’s name is Becca...Has two sons and one daughter...Was raised on a family-owned and operated dairy farm in Amherst...Played four years of baseball at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1991 with a degree in Psychology...Was named a Division III second-team All-American first baseman and first-team All New England first baseman after his senior season...Also holds a Masters of Science in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst."

Will Blythe

"Will Blythe is Editor-at-Large for Byliner.com, and the author of To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever. The former literary editor of Esquire, he's a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. His work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated. His stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Sportswriting. He is the editor of Why I Write, published by Little Brown. Raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Blythe now lives and works in New York City."