Jim Russo (baseball scout)
{{Infobox person
| name = James Joseph "Jim" Russo
| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|4|22}}
| birth_place = Huntington, Indiana
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|2|8|1922|4|22}}
| death_place = Grover/Wildwood, Missouri
| occupation = Baseball scout
| years_active = 1951-1986
| employer = St. Louis Browns (1951-53); Baltimore Orioles (1954-1986)
| known_for = Baltimore Orioles Super Scout
}}
James Joseph "Jim" Russo (April 22, 1922 – February 8, 2004) was a baseball scout for the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles. He was one of professional baseball's original "Super Scouts". He not only excelled in finding talented players, but pioneered observing and reporting on the tendencies of opposing teams to provide insight and strategy on how those teams could be more easily defeated when the Orioles would play them in the future. Most notably, his advance scouting of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966 is considered a key reason that the underdog Orioles defeated the Dodgers 4–0 in the 1966 World Series. A New York Times article once referred to him as "baseball's secret weapon".
Early life
Russo was born on April 22, 1922, in Huntington, Indiana.{{Cite web |last=Costello |first=Rory |title=Jim Russo – Society for American Baseball Research |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-russo/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=SABR.org |language=en-US}} He was the child of Sicilian immigrants. Russo played semi-pro baseball in Huntington, but never professional baseball.{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=2004-02-12 |title=Jim Russo, 81, 'Superscout' Who Helped Build the Orioles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/sports/jim-russo-81-superscout-who-helped-build-the-orioles.html |access-date=2025-03-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He also managed the semi-pro team.{{Cite news |last=Patton |first=Phil |date=1984-07-08 |title=BASEBALL'S SECRET WEAPON |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/magazine/baseballs-secret-weapon.html |access-date=2025-03-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Russo worked as a school teacher. He served in the United States Army during World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star.{{Cite web |last= |date=2004-02-10 |title=Russo, 'super scout' of Orioles for over 3 decades, dies at 81 |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2004/02/10/russo-super-scout-of-orioles-for-over-3-decades-dies-at-81/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}} He was a member of the Army Air Corps, stationed in the China-Burma-India theater.
Baseball career
His first job in professional baseball was as a minor league announcer in Riverside, California. His first scouting experience came in 1948, engaged by Jim McLaughlin of the St. Louis Browns as a bird dog scout (working on commission). Because of his ability as a scout, the Browns and owner Bill Veeck made Russo a full-time scout in 1951. He worked under McLaughlin, the Browns head of scouting and minor league system, who was ahead of his time in systematizing and analytically evaluating baseball prospects. When the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954, as the Baltimore Orioles, McLaughlin maintained his roles on the new team, and kept Russo as one of his scouts.{{Cite web |last=Pomrenke |first=Jacob |title=The Oriole Way: The Founding Fathers – Society for American Baseball Research |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-oriole-way-the-founding-fathers/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |language=en-US}}
McLaughlin taught Russo that a scout's worst sin was to be indecisive, and that with a good scout there was no "dancing"; and Russo always was direct with what he thought about a player. He also was trained by McLaughlin to consider a player's intangible qualities (such as intelligence, drive, handling pressure), as much as he considered a player's physical skills in evaluating a player. Another one of McLaughlin's innovations was to have the team's scouts crosscheck the reports of local area scouts before signing a player (and not simply taking the word of the local scout). In 1958, McLaughlin made Russo the Orioles national crosschecker scout, overseeing the reports of 14 local scouts over 26 states.{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=John W. |title=The Last Manager, How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, And Reinvented Baseball |publisher=Avid Reader Press |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-6680-3092-9 |pages=79}} (McLaughlin and his wife were godparents to the Russos’ youngest child.)
McLaughlin and Russo were among the leading lights in establishing the Orioles future success. Along with other early Orioles leaders like Paul Richards, Harry Dalton, Earl Weaver and Cal Ripken Sr., they were integral to establishing "the Oriole Way". After McLaughlin left the team in 1961, replaced by his exceptional assistant Harry Dalton, Russo continued to be an important part of building the Orioles success. The team won American League titles in 1966, 1969-71, 1979 and 1983, and three World Series victories (1966, 1970, 1983).{{Cite web |title=Baltimore Orioles Team History & Encyclopedia |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/index.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}
Orioles executive Frank Cashen, who would later serve as the New York Mets general manager, gave Russo the nickname "super scout", and called Russo the best scout he ever saw. Russo was with the Orioles from 1954-86. From 1954-84, the Orioles won more games than any team in major league baseball. A 1984 New York Times article referred to Russo as "baseball's secret weapon". Orioles manager Joe Altobelli, who led the team to the 1983 World Series championship, said Russo was as important to the Orioles' success as any player.
= Scouting players =
Russo excelled in scouting players who would one day become stars for the Orioles. He played an important role in the Orioles signing future hall of fame pitcher Jim Palmer, the Orioles winningest pitcher,{{Cite web |title=Palmer, Jim {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/palmer-jim |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=baseballhall.org}}{{Cite web |title=Jim Palmer Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/palmeji01.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The Baltimore Orioles' 10 Greatest Pitchers of All Time |url=https://thisgreatgame.com/baltimore-orioles-top-10-pitchers/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=This Great Game |language=en-US}} future American League all-star and most valuable player Boog Powell,{{Cite web |title=Boog Powell Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/powelbo01.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} four-time 20 game winner Dave McNally,{{Cite web |title=Dave McNally Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcnalda01.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} and gold-glove second baseman Davey Johnson (also a future two-time manager of the year).{{Cite web |title=Davey Johnson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsda02.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} He was instrumental in acquiring hall of fame outfielder Frank Robinson{{Cite web |title=Robinson, Frank {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/robinson-frank |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=baseballhall.org}} in 1966, a year in which Robinson won the Triple Crown and led the Orioles to the world championship.{{Cite magazine |last=Leggett |first=William |date=October 24, 1966 |title=The Reasons Why The Orioles Won |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1966/10/24/the-reasons-why-the-orioles-won |magazine=Sports Illustrated}}
He also was pivotal in the Orioles trading for Mike Cuellar before the 1969 season. Cuellar went on to win the Cy Young Award in his first Orioles season,{{Cite web |title=1969 Awards Voting |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1969.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} with a total Orioles record of 143–88, four seasons of over 20 wins, and two seasons with 18 wins.{{Cite web |title=Mike Cuellar Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cuellmi01.shtml |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} Russo was later involved with bringing pitcher Pat Dobson to the Orioles for the 1971 season. The 1971 Orioles are one of only two teams in major league history with four twenty-game winners (Cuellar, Dobson, McNally and Palmer) in a single season, and Russo was a key in the Orioles having each of those four pitchers.{{Cite web |title=4 x 20: Orioles' 1971 Season Is One for the Books, Title or Not |url=https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/featured/4-x-20-orioles-1971-season-is-one-for-the-books-title-or-not |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}
= Advance scouting =
Russo was a pioneer in advance scouting. While Russo himself described Howard Ehmke as the first advance scout, the more common view is that his scouting of the Los Angeles Dodgers is the first instance of modern advance scouting. Starting in early September 1966, Harry Dalton, the Orioles director of player personnel,{{Cite web |last=Voiss |first=Dale |title=Harry Dalton – Society for American Baseball Research |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/harry-dalton/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=SABR.org |language=en-US}} assigned Russo to attend the Dodgers games and prepare a scouting report on the Dodgers; as Dalton correctly anticipated the Orioles would be meeting the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series. Russo attended 22 Dodgers' games.
While the Dodgers won the vast majority of the games Russo scouted, he observed weaknesses in the team's hitters, strategies that could limit the use of some of the Dodgers better players, and that future hall of fame pitcher Sandy Koufax{{Cite web |title=Koufax, Sandy {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/koufax-sandy |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=baseballhall.org}} had pitching tendencies that could be used against him if the Oriole batters were disciplined in their at bats. Along with two other Orioles scouts, Russo wrote up a 16-page single spaced report on the Dodgers' strengths and weaknesses. On the day before the World Series began, Russo spent two hours with the Orioles players going over each point in his report on the Dodgers. The Orioles swept the 1966 World Series 4–0. Russo considered his advance scouting on the Dodgers to be his career highlight.
Jim Palmer, who pitched a shutout in game 2 of the 1966 World Series, defeating Koufax, said that after hearing Russo
From 1966 until his retirement, Russo’s position was special assistant to the general manager. By 1977, Russo was regularly doing advance scouting for the Orioles. In 1983, his advance scouting reports on the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies helped the Orioles win the American League pennant and World Series. Orioles hall of fame manager Earl Weaver,{{Cite web |title=Weaver, Earl {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/weaver-earl |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=baseballhall.org}} who had a tempestuous, but deeply close, relationship with Russo for well over a decade, said that
Honors and awards
In 2003, the Orioles established the Jim Russo Scout of the Year Award. Huntington County Honors inducted Russo into its class of 2024.{{Cite web |title=Jim Russo |url=https://www.huntingtoncountyhonors.org/Honorees/jim-russo |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Huntington Co Honors |language=en}}
Death
Russo died on February 8, 2004, in Grover, Missouri, which is incorporated within Wildwood, Missouri.{{Cite web |date=2004-02-09 |title=Monday roundup: Ex-Orioles scout dies at 81 |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1731263 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Grover {{!}} Wildwood, MO - Official Website |url=https://www.cityofwildwood.com/600/Grover |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=www.cityofwildwood.com}}
External links
Rory Costello, [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-russo/ Jim Russo – Society for American Baseball Research]