CINCINNATI (AP) Cincinnati Reds president Dick Williams has resigned to pursue other interests with his family’s property development business, the team said Wednesday.
The 50-year-old Williams worked in Reds baseball operations for 15 years and has been president since 2016. The Reds said he is leaving to work more closely with family-owned and controlled North American Properties, which has an ownership stake in the team.
Nick Krall will continue in his role as vice president and general manager.
Williams told the Cincinnati Enquirer he had informed Reds CEO Bob Castellini in August that this season would be his last, no matter how the Reds finished.
Williams was involved in rebuilding the team after playoff appearances in 2010, ’12 and ’13. The Reds had fallen on hard times in recent years but in this coronavirus-shortened season notched their first winning season and playoff appearance in seven years. The Atlanta Braves eliminated Cincinnati in a two-game sweep of their wild-card series last week.
”It is the right time for me to begin a transition, both professionally and personally,” Williams said in a statement. ”I have been affiliated with this organization in one way or another for most of my life, but I have been working here full-time for 15 years. More than anything, I was so proud to represent this unbelievable city of ours. It was the honor of a lifetime to be a small part of assembling teams that went out and battled for these fans.”
Williams was credited with strengthening the team’s scouting and farm system, implementing analytics and establishing a sports science and wellness department.
”Dick has an incredible baseball IQ, and his gift for innovation came at the right time in history,” Castellini said. ”We are enormously proud of the contributions he has made to this franchise.”
Williams’ father is the Reds chairman and his uncle is the vice chairman in the current ownership group. He has a long family history with the organization. His grandfather, W. Joseph Williams Sr., was one of the principal owners in the group that bought the team in 1966 and owned the club through the Big Red Machine era.
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