Most Professional US Sports wins for a General Manager ever and most for a GM with a single Team

The Game Room
1

So Brian Cashman just got win 2500 as Yankees GM. I’m guessing Connie Mack is well ahead of him still, but who else? Any major professional top level US Sport. Though it would be hard to beat baseball by the nature of the games per season. I think Mack can be credited for 3582 wins as GM & Manager.

I think John McGraw might be the only other one ahead of Cashman. I’m not sure if he handled the GM duties for his entire run as Manager.

BTW: Championship Wins is Ed Barrow of the Yankees. He reportedly invented the title of General Manager for sports also.

2

“Most wins” is not a really fair metric since something like baseball and basketball have far more games in a season than football does.

I’d say Jerry West for the NBA, Brian Cashman for MLB and Bill Belichick for the NFL.

3

But it is the metric for this thread. This is a simple numbers game, not a who was the best GM. So your post is basically off-topic as the first reply.

4

~Max

5

Managers are easy, but this is about General Managers. I can’t find those numbers. It doesn’t answer the question, but I do know only 4 managers have more than 2500 wins.

Rk Mgr Yrs From To W L W-L% Ties Ejections WSwon PennWon Player/Manager
1 Connie Mack HOF 53 1894 1950 3731 3948 0.486 76 1 5 9 plyr/mgr: 1894-1896
2 Tony La Russa HOF 35 1979 2022 2884 2499 0.536 4 93 3 6
3 John McGraw HOF 33 1899 1932 2763 1948 0.586 58 121 3 10 plyr/mgr: 1899-1906
4 Bobby Cox HOF 29 1978 2010 2504 2001 0.556 3 162 1 5
6

Well, IIRC Connie Mack wasn’t technically general manager. His generation predates the distinction between owner/manager/general manager, in fact I think the one-guy-who-does-it-all hat died with him.

~Max

7

I think he acted as GM for that entire run. So he has to qualify.
It is John McGraw I’m really not sure about.

I guess I should run the numbers on Ed Barrow and George Weiss.

8

George Halas has him beat.

9

I feel like Auerbach gives him a run for GM wins, but am too lazy to research it.

I don’t understand Popovich’s role over time, but he’s an interesting one.

10

From what I can tell, Auerbach was Celtics GM from 1966 (when he stepped down as head coach) until 1984. It looks like he had 881 wins as a GM. West appears to have had 1166 wins as a GM.

13

I consider Halas an owner and not a GM but this gets into that gray area @Max_S mentioned just above.

As a Chicagoan I am cool with Halas taking that crown.

14

Auerbach was both coach and GM of the Celtics, holding both roles from 1951 to 1984. He had 1738 wins in that time.

Boston Celtics - General Managers - RetroSeasons.com

15

For the NHL, they’ll just tell you. To nobody’s surprise, they aren’t competitive with MLB due to the short seasons.

  • Career: David Poile, WSH/NSH, 1533; I knew he was first because he was with my hometown Predators for forever. Speaking of forever, Lou Lamoriello, NJ/TOR/NYI, is still active and 55 wins away; however, he’s unsigned for 2025-26, is probably leading his team to the lottery, and turns 83 later this year.
  • Career including playoffs: Lamoriello, 1650 and counting
  • With one team (both with and without playoffs): Harry Sinden, BOS, 1297/1170