Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton grew up as a baseball fan and carried that passion into adulthood. In the midst of his time at Harvard Business School, the Red Sox and the Yankees played out an epic pennant race, and Middleton was in Fenway Park for the one-game playoff that turned on Bucky Dent's home run.
He operates the Phillies with the intimate perspective of an ardent fan, and because he understood what his fans wanted, Middleton spent his money on Bryce Harper over Manny Machado last winter. Because he was attuned to the fans, he fired Gabe Kapler, an unpopular figure in Philadelphia, as one late-season poll in the city's largest newspaper demonstrated.
And because he thinks like a fan, Middleton knew he couldn't sell another first-time manager to his fan base.