It was a dream job, but not under dream circumstances.
The Chicago Cubs wanted to hire him. The Cubs! He had grown up in Chicago. He loved the Cubs. Ned Colletti loved baseball, ever since his father had treated him to a day at Wrigley Field for his seventh birthday.
But he was in Philadelphia, an out-of-work hockey writer, wondering how he could possibly support a wife and newborn child on $14,000 a year, the Cubs' pay rate for an entry-level job in media relations. He was 27, old enough to make a better living. He swallowed hard and told the Cubs no.
Not long after, his phone rang. His parents still lived in Chicago. His father was on the line, suggesting Colletti take that job. Lung cancer will take me soon, his father said, and you need to come home and take care of your mother.
Twenty-four years ago he went home, and Wednesday he went to the top of his profession when the Dodgers introduced him as their new general manager.
"Today is one of the proudest days of my life," Colletti said, "if not the proudest day."
Dodger owner Frank McCourt was proud, and relieved too. After a turbulent two weeks that included rejections from an assortment of high-profile executives, McCourt finally landed his man. Colletti, who replaces the fired Paul DePodesta, can now hire a manager. Six weeks ago, the Dodgers dumped manager Jim Tracy -- and later DePodesta -- after losing 91 games, their second-worst season since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.
Colletti, 50, joins the Dodgers after 11 seasons with the San Francisco Giants, the last nine as assistant general manager. The Giants won 90 games six times in that span, with four appearances in the playoffs and one in the World Series.
Yet the Giants watched in frustration and amazement as teams in search of general managers dismissed Colletti's success and experience while hiring statistical whiz kids young enough to be his son.
"In some ways, I'd say we both became pessimists about what the hell was going on in the game," said Giant General Manager Brian Sabean, Colletti's boss in San Francisco. "If people owned Fortune 500 companies, would the keys to the organization be turned over to a fellow who didn't have real-life experience?
"It's probably more of a phase than a norm. I don't think all of baseball necessarily subscribes to that school of thought."
Colletti replaces DePodesta, 32, the son of a Harvard graduate and a Harvard graduate himself. Colletti's father was a maintenance man, and the family lived in a remodeled garage.
