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July 29, 2010

Pettus resigns as O’s GM

By JED LOCKETT Staff reports

BLUEFIELD —  Bluefield Orioles general manager Jim Pettus has resigned after just 21 home games and six months with the club.

Pettus, who was hired following the resignation of Mike Showe following the 2009 season, said that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“It’s a pretty time-consuming and demanding job here,” he said. “I thought this was something that could be a pretty good fit for me, but having gone through half the season to three quarters of the season I just feel like I’m spending too much time away from home. I’ve got two younger boys, 11 and 9 years old and I just feel like it’s important to be there for these years, their developmental years.”

Pettus did not cite any other reasons for his exit, despite the fact that he was eager to be a part of the organization.

“It was something that I was really excited about doing, being a sports guy, son of a coach and things,” he said. “I just wanted to be more available to my family and be able to spend time with them. With them having their summers off it’s the only chance we really have to spend time doing trips and things. This is just a tough match with that.”

Pettus, who had spent the previous nine years working for Community Action of South Eastern West Virginia (CASE), admitted that the general manager’s job was much harder than he expected.

“I don’t believe that anybody would appreciate the amount of time it takes to handle the so many varying aspects of operations here for the Orioles,” Pettus said, “everything from ordering food for the concessions to handling sales and taking care of needs that the (Baltimore) Orioles may have during the season and staffing and scheduling and things like that.

“It is very time consuming and I want to be in this whole-heartedly and be able to put 100 percent effort into it. I just feel like it was going to be hard to do that and keep a balance at home.”

That balance was thrown out of whack by the demands of his position.

“It can sometimes be a 13-to-15-hour-a-day job, especially on game days,” Pettus said. “It’s a never-ending list of things that could be done here. So if you’re going to do it right, I feel like you probably are going to have to be here quite a bit.”

Pettus will go back to work for CASE in a similar position to the one he held prior to joining the Bluefield Orioles.

Former Bluefield general manager and the president of the Bluefield Baseball Club said he was shocked when he heard about the decision made by Pettus.

"Very untimely, I was very surprised," McGonagle said. "I found out last Thursday when he gave his notice. He did an outstanding job while he was here."

McGonagle tried to provide an insight to why Pettus was hired in February.

"Our problem is we look for some longevity from somebody and we thought with his age, mid-30s, that he could be around to exceed the time that I was here,” McGonagle said. “He probably couldn't catch up with Mr. (George) Fanning but he could have been here a long time and brought a lot of stability."

McGonagle will serve as general manager for the remainder of the season.

"I've been here all summer helping him when he needed it," McGonagle said. "Starting in the morning I'll be here bright and early."

McGonagle stated that the Bluefield Baseball Club has not set a timeline for finding Pettus' replacement.

"We're going to get through the rest of this season, which will be August 31 and then we'll sit down and take a look at it," McGonagle said.

ºPettus does not regret the six months he spent as the Bluefield Orioles’ general manager.

“I got to meet a lot of interesting people,” Pettus said, “people like Lenny Johnston and Einar Diaz. I’ve built some friendships here with some staff and met people right here in my own community that I didn’t know before taking this job and certainly gained an appreciation for whoever it is that will take my position.

“I wish everybody here all the luck in the world and the Orioles all the luck in the world. Nothing personal towards anyone here or anything like that, it was just basically something for me and my family that we feel was important and I just want to make sure that I’m able to spend time with them.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com

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