C/O McMaster Sports Community, Guest speakers Sundeep Dhillon & Richard Martinelli
McMaster alum and 2021 World Series Champion Alex Anthopoulos to headline event with the McMaster Sports Community
The McMaster Sports Community is offering McMaster students an opportunity of a lifetime to those interested. Alex Anthopoulos, the General Manager of the Atlanta Braves, will be joining MSC for a general discussion and a question and answer session over Zoom, marking the first time the speaker has ever returned to the school. The event will be taking place on Dec. 8 at 6:00 PM.
At the event Anthopoulos will be joined by close friends of his from his time at McMaster, Sundeep Dhillon and Richard Martinelli, who Anthopoulos credits as being highly impactful in his career success, and a large part in both his life journey, and his time in university.
As a former Mac student who studied economics, Anthopoulos has built an impressive career for himself in the world of sports. He acted as the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2009 to 2015, and currently works as the GM of the Atlanta Braves. Impressively, he has recently become a World Series Champion in the 2021 season, and is the first Canadian to ever do so as GM.
Why is Anthopoulos’ experience relevant to MSC? Jack Hinde, Co-President of MSC, described the excitement club members feel towards the opportunity to meet and hear from a Mac alum who has carved such a successful sports career for themselves.
“Everyone within the club is extremely excited to have Anthopoulos over to talk about his career. It really is an amazing opportunity for all McMaster students. Not only is he one of the most important GMs in [Major League Baseball], but he is a Mac alumni, which makes this event even more exciting to all of us,” explained Hinde.
Interestingly, it was during an interview for the Silhouette that Anthopoulos was invited, and accepted to attend this MSC event. Jovan Popovic, Sports Editor for the Silhouette and Co-President of MSC, invited the accomplished Mac alum to host the event for the club.
“Well, when Jovan [Popovic] had an interview with Anthopoulos a couple of weeks ago, he offered the GM an opportunity to host the Q and A over zoom for the club. To our excitement, Anthopoulos accepted and that is what made us really happy: to have a very busy man with consistent duties take some of his time to do an [event] for our club,” explained Hinde.
While this is an excellent chance for students to learn from a figure in sports of significant stature, this is also an opportunity for Hinde and the rest of MSC to represent the Mac community for all it’s worth.
“Most of us are still in disbelief about this, as it means so much to the community, especially the baseball fans who knew about Anthopoulos for years. We are just so thankful for it, but now I feel like we have a bigger job to do when it comes to the interview. We have to be well organized and we want to represent the club in the best way possible to him,” said Hinde.
Those interested can keep their eyes peeled on the MSC Instagram page, where they will post frequent updates about the event. Sign ups for the event also remain open through their Google form. The guest speaker appearance is available to all McMaster students, not just club members, although sign-ups will be capped at 50 people.
Jovan Popovic has shown that he’s serious about his business in an industry that has found itself growing quickly amid the pandemic.
More often than not, university students solely focus on their studies for the four years that they spend in their undergraduate programs. For many, the only vision that they have in mind is schoolwork and graduation and they avoid pursuing their dream career on the side for this reason. However, this isn’t always the case. There are students around who have their own business success stories and have translated their entrepreneurship into serious and impressive endeavours.
A third-year business student, Jovan Popovic, has developed his passion for sports memorabilia into a serious business. Also known as the Sports Editor of the Silhouette, Popovic has been running his paid private signings business, Pop Sports Memorabilia, for 3 years. His business first began as a card flipping venture, but later changed focus, implementing a strategy to target a niche with sports fans by offering private autograph signings.
The business is based on Popovic finding various popular players and arranging private autograph signings with them. The business student would then collect items from all interested clients, and meet with the player on a predetermined date to get them signed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Popovic found this unique opportunity to develop his business, and by taking advantage, his business gained much momentum.
In an interview, Popovic explained how autographs became a rarity during the pandemic as face to face meetings were limited and players avoided in-person physical contact, whether it be by choice or as a result of league protocol.
“Ever since the pandemic began, the business sort of took off. People couldn't see each other as much face to face, so autographs really became a delicacy. That’s where my business came in.”
Jovan Popovic, Pop Sports Memorabilia Founder
Since autographs became much less common, private signings took over. As business continued to grow, Popovic continued looking for more players to sign, having included as many as 12 players in a single wave of signings before.
When explaining his business model, Popovic described himself as the one who “connects” the two parties — players and fans.
“The way the business works, I would conduct research and find players that I believe are in high demand. I would reach out to them using my connections, or by contacting their agents. As soon as I get in touch with them, I’d negotiate a deal, and once it's set I would bring it to my customer base and start collecting items for the player,” explained Popovic.
Although Popovic is currently in contact with dozens of different baseball players, getting in contact with all of them was not easy. He explained that when he first broke into the business, he messaged 150 different players over Instagram, only to receive a reply from one.
“It didn't start off well. Generally [for] every 150 players I’d message, I would get one reply. Once I finished off with the first couple players, I offered them referral fees to get me in contact with others. That was what helped my business propel forward,”
Jovan Popovic
Through his connections and his negotiations with sports agencies such as Apex Baseball and True Gravity, Popovic has managed to gather an impressive pool of talent from the baseball world. Among the players with whom he has done business are Daniel Nava (World Series champion, 2013), Reese McGuire (Blue Jays catcher), Kris Bubic (Royals starting pitcher) and Ross Stripling (Blue Jays starting pitcher and former All-Star).
Although players may be slowly returning to normal signing more often now than through a majority of the pandemic, Popovic has found himself able to maintain a high business volume. After having grown the business from scratch, Pop Sports Memorabilia has made a name for itself in the industry over the course of the year. To learn more about the business, or to get in touch with Popovic, you can message him through the business Instagram or visit his website.
The McMaster alumnus story of Alex Anthopoulos, a Canadian kid turned major league GM
Alex Anthopoulos is a Major League Baseball front office executive most well known for his time with the Toronto Blue Jays and presently, the Atlanta Braves. Anthopoulos is a native of Montreal, Quebec and grew up a big fan of the Montreal Expos baseball team.
His love of baseball brought him into the Expos organization, where he found himself in a voluntary role as the team’s “mail boy.” It was a small role for someone with big aspirations, but it proved a significant stop on the route to a larger role.
Sorting fan mail has nothing to do with baseball operations, however, it was the foot in the door that Anthopoulos needed. It gave him the opportunity to get into the stadium, meet others within the organization and talk baseball. Through this, he managed to impress some of the scouts that he had an opportunity to talk to, which is how he got his big break.
Anthopoulos managed a busy schedule year-round, working with the team over the summer while completing a degree in economics at McMaster University in the early 2000s. In 2002, he joined the Expos’ scouting department as the team’s assistant scouting director. However, he would leave the team to take up a new opportunity that would have a substantial impact on his career.
In 2003, Anthopoulos would be hired into the scouting department of the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2005, he was promoted to assistant general manager under the guidance of J.P Riccardi. Three years later, Riccardi was fired, with the McMaster graduate taking the reins at the age of 32.
During Anthopoulos’ six-year career with Toronto, he made what many believed to be aggressive moves for the team. He started his career by moving Roy Halladay — who many have considered one of the greatest Blue Jays of all time — to the Philadelphia Phillies.
He shed the once thought of “unmovable contracts” of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. He would sign unproven stars Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion to long term contracts. R.A Dickey — the recipient of the 2012 Cy Young, given to the league’s top pitcher — would later be brought to Toronto coming off his award-winning year.
Anthopoulos would acquire Josh Donaldson prior to the start of the 2015 season, and he had become the Blue Jays’ first MVP winner since George Bell in 1987. At the midway point in the season, he would have one of the craziest trade deadlines in MLB history, acquiring Cy Young winner David Price, and perennial all-star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. He would bring back a buzz to Toronto, and the team would make their first playoff appearance since 1993.
Following the 2015 season, Anthopoulos would leave the team for a new opportunity with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"I don't know that I've had to make a harder decision in my life . . . I just didn't feel like this was a right fit for me going forward,” said Anthopoulos to Business Insider.
"I don't know that I've had to make a harder decision in my life . . . I just didn't feel like this was a right fit for me going forward,” said Anthopoulos to Business Insider.
Source: In their 1st & only meeting, new Jays prez Mark Shapiro scolded Alex Anthopolous & staff for trading so many top prospects this yr
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) October 29, 2015
He would spend the next two seasons with the Dodgers before joining the Atlanta Braves as the team’s general manager. In his three seasons with the Braves, they have won their division three times, but have fallen short of the championship trophy each year.
Their furthest push came during the 2020 season, led by the national league MVP Freddie Freeman; however, they fell one game short of the World Series. Going forward the team remains in championship contention, as Anthopoulos looks for the final piece to get them over the hump.
Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the phrase “the only thing to fear is fear itself” as he came into office during the Great Depression. That same year, San Francisco began construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, and Major League Baseball held its all-star game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park.
It was 1933, and it would be the last time that playoff baseball was played in Washington D.C. That is, of course, until this year.
The Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, have played eight years in the bigs since their relocation, the majority of which they spent occupying the National League East cellar. The Expos franchise, which had been competing since 1969, last made the playoffs in 1981.
Even still, a 31-year playoff drought going into the year put them atop the list of longest active playoff droughts. Something was special about 2012. Somehow, the blue chip prospects, alleged wash-ups and solid major league veterans mixed perfectly. At the all-star break, the Nats had 49 wins and led the division with no team closer than four games.
The leaders of three out of the five remaining divisions held slimmer leads, and the only two front-runners with a more dominant position were the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox.
That is certainly more favorable company than the Kansas City Royals, who have now missed the playoffs for a 27th straight year, taking over top spot in that metric.
Washington ended the season with a record of 98 wins and 64 losses. By doing so, the team not only had its first winning season in D.C., but also set a franchise record with 98 wins and was the best team in baseball.
Even when the Expos were winning, they were never that good. It almost sounds too good to be true, and believe me, it is. As a baseball fan, I write to you with hopes of explaining how truly disappointed I am in the Washington Nationals as an organization.
Efforts on the field were admirable, even at times remarkable, and the pitching staff in particular contributed to the success this year. Ace pitching duo Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg, two of the shining young stars of the sport, combined for 36 of the team’s wins and 404 of the total strikeouts. The pair was truly the anchor of a staff that saw each of the five starters get double-digit win totals.
I regret to inform you that every one of those wins – Strasburg’s 15 at the very least – went completely to waste; There would be no happy ending to this fairy tale.
On Friday, Oct. 12, the St. Louis Cardinals, in a heart-breaking fifth and deciding game, eliminated the team from the National League Division Series. Someone had to lose. But to give every player on that roster, and potentially everyone else in the Washington dugout, some credit, it was not entirely a fair fight.
At the very least it is not the fight the team deserved. After making a start on Sept. 7 against the Miami Marlins, Strasburg was shut down by the team’s upper management. Was he injured? No. Was he playing poorly? No. Was he causing problems in the clubhouse? At least, not to the best knowledge of America’s ever present and savvy baseball writers. According to management, the team was preserving the longevity of their young star’s career.
Strasburg’s arm has, in fact, been touted as possibly the best ever. That is the guy you want the mound in one of the first two games in a series against a Cardinals team that breathes playoff baseball. No?
The young ace made no such appearance. Instead, the Nats took a 1-0 lead in the series, only to be tied up a game later. An article on ESPN quotes an unnamed player on Washington’s roster who seems to believe strongly that Strasburg would have made a difference in the series; the player makes no mistake in saying that Strasburg would have helped make the series 2-0. Numbers don’t lie; there is a good chance that would have been the case, but it is impossible to say. He is only human after all.
This is evident in the injury troubles that have been a reality for Strasburg early in his career. Regardless, he didn’t show it this season. He has no business packing a lip on the bench.
His absence during the NLDS was a tragedy, not only for the Nationals and their (newly) loyal fans, but baseball as a whole.
No player of Strasburg’s caliber or character should ever be prevented from playing for fear of injury or wear, especially on the eve of the playoffs. Good players should be seen and not heard from, I suppose.
For fear of hurting their best player, the Nationals hurt their best chances at winning in the playoffs. 79 years later, Washington’s new baseball team proved Mr. Roosevelt very, very right.
