Dayton Moore, J.J. Picollo, Lonnie Goldberg and Ken Munoz were once winning conference championships and setting school records as members of the George Mason baseball team. After an unexpected yet fortunate series of events the foursome is back together over 20 years later, this time with different roles. They have traded in their uniforms for suits. Instead of taking the field they are manning the front office. And instead of making the plays, they are making the decisions; decisions that have the Kansas City Royals four wins away from a World Series Championship.
During their tenure as students at Mason the group helped bring home two regular season CAA Conference championships, two CAA Conference Tournament championships and three NCAA Regional appearances, spanning the years of 1988-1994. The 1993 season was the lone year that all four had the chance to play together, winning 39 games and earning the programs first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Post-Mason the four had their own separate journey's, but not without crossing paths along the way.
"We all kind of went our separate ways after our time at Mason with Dayton coaching the three of us,” said Kansas City Royals Assistant GM J.J. Picollo. “Dayton went off into the scouting world, I went off to play just for one year, Kenny was teaching in high school and Lonnie was still playing. Obviously Lonnie's career went longer than my career and Kenny's career as a player, but we all kind of always had a mutual respect for one another. I can't tell you that we would be working together again at some point, but we're all kind of like-minded guys, we're driven to be excellent at what we do.”
“Some of us were in the same classes or the same education programs, it was really a tight-knit group there,” said Kansas City Royals Director of Scouting Lonnie Goldberg. “My time being there, our teams were successful and we enjoyed playing for one another. I think just the background of what Skip did and Dayton being there, just having good people… just allowed us all to grow probably as baseball players and as people. It was a really fun time and it's pretty unique I guess to be working with the same people that you played and had communication with.”
It was Moore who had a large impact on Goldberg's decision to attend Mason. Moore, a senior at the time, was the one to chaperone Goldberg around campus during his freshman recruiting visit, calling him the next day to assure that Mason was the place to be.
After graduating in 1989, Moore returned to Mason for his graduate degree and an assistant coaching position from 1990-94. The program record holder for assists in one season (187), he had the opportunity to coach and mentor the other three during their playing days before entering the world of scouting with the Atlanta Braves. It would not be the last time he would see his former teammates.
“I did bump into Dayton quite a bit on the road when he was scouting, and that's really where we seemed to have a little bit more of a mutual respect, a professional respect for each other,” said Picollo. “From my perspective Dayton was always very curious if I ever wanted to get into scouting and in the fall of 1999 they (Braves) had an opening in the Mid-Atlantic that fit well for where I was in my life at that time.”
Picollo joined the Patriots as a junior for the 1993 season after transferring from N.C. State, twice drafted by the Cincinnati Reds before signing a minor league contract with the New York Yankees after his senior year. Picollo continued his playing career for one season, eventually returning to Mason as an assistant coach for three seasons before joining Moore and the Braves.
“In the meantime Lonnie was still playing and then started to get into coaching and independent ball and he showed up at the Winter Meetings and ran into Dayton,” continued Picollo. “Dayton called me when he got back from the Winter Meetings and said hey, I saw Lonnie and I think we're going to hire him. So it was kind of a coincidence.”
The three spent several seasons together in the Atlanta organization, winning several divisional championships before Moore was named the General Manager of the Royals in 2006. Picollo joined him in Kansas City the same year as Director of Player Development and Goldberg climbed aboard in 2008. An opening in the scouting department allowed for Munoz to eventually complete the reunion.
“With Kenny we were in Kansas City and we had an opening in our scouting department,” said Picollo, “and quite honestly we told our scouting director at the time that hey, we don't want this to be a favor, you need to go ahead and interview him and if you think he's a viable candidate that's great. The scouting director talked to him and offered him the job that day. So it really all worked out very well.”
It may have taken some time and patience, but Moore and his consistent vision into the future has finally paid off for the Royals. Kansas City entered the playoffs for the first time since 1985 as a Wild Card team, subsequently opening the postseason with eight consecutive victories for the first time in Major League history and putting the them on the brink of their second championship.
“Sometimes when I really think about it I realize I know Dayton is an extremely intelligent person, but this was his vision and this was his belief,” shared Goldberg, “And to see it actually come true and see it develop and happen in front of you; it's one thing to say it, it's one thing to talk about it but the other thing to actually go through with it and watch it…”
“It's a proud moment for the whole organization, there's been a lot of people involved in what's gone on over the eight years: a lot of patience, a lot of navigating through the ups and downs,” Picollo explained. “But Dayton has provided leadership that kept us on task and we never really waivered in what we were doing, we just had to believe what we were doing was the right thing and would pay off in the long run and right now it looks to be going that way.”
While very busy, all four still make sure to follow the baseball program at Mason and are appreciative for how the program, the university and of course what long-time head coach Bill Brown has done for their lives.
“I had an unbelievable time playing there,” said Goldberg. “Like I said we won, we had fun, we knew what we were trying to accomplish. He (Brown) put parameters on us but also gave us the leniency to go out and compete. I think it's really shaped a lot of us to who we are now and how I run my staff and how J.J. runs his staff and how Dayton runs what he runs. We follow the program obviously.
“It's great getting text messages and emails and calls… the program's staying together and supporting one another. But the only constant ingredient in all of this is Skip.”
“We all still follow what's going on day-to-day there at Mason,” Picollo said. “We text each other, talk to each other; it's not too often where we are in the same place but we can talk about what's happening. The move into the Atlantic 10 was something… I thought that he (Brown) would have great success in the first year in that conference and he did. I'm really proud of what he's always done and what he continues to do.”
For Picollo, choosing to attend George Mason may have been once of the best decisions of his life.
“Coming to George Mason was the right place for me to go at that time,” continued Picollo. “Billy Brown, the environment that he created, we learned a lot and played hard. It was what I needed in my career; that's where I met Dayton, it's where I met my wife, so it had such a long-lasting impact on what I did afterwards, and my education at George Mason was as good as it gets. I was a communication major, (that) prepared me for a lot of things I've had to deal with along the way. The environment there, the classroom size was outstanding, I know it's grown since. I just really enjoyed it.”
The Royals face the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the World Series on Tuesday in Kansas City. Moore, Picollo, Goldberg and Munoz may be wearing the Royal blue, but underneath they will always don the Green and Gold.
