Bill DeWitt III was named chief executive officer of the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday after serving as team president since 2008.
Leadership Restructuring
The Cardinals also announced the promotion of Anuk Karunaratne to president of business operations as part of a restructuring following Chaim Bloom’s appointment as president of baseball operations last September.
“In some ways, it’s not that big of a change, as all of us up here have been working together closely for a couple years now,” DeWitt III said. “But in formalizing these roles, we’re just firming up the leadership structure that will lay the foundation for the next wave of organizational and team success.”
DeWitt III, 58, oversaw the opening of Busch Stadium in 2006 and the development and launch of Ballpark Village Phase I in 2014 and Phase II in 2020.
Bill DeWitt Jr. continues as chairman and principal owner and will continue his involvement in team baseball and business matters.
“Nothing’s really changed,” DeWitt Jr. said. “I stay in touch with obviously Bill III. Baseball (operations) stays in touch with me. I talk all the time, so I may or may not be here, but I’m here in spirit and available 24/7 so I’m tightly in touch with all the things we’re looking to do.”
Karunaratne joined the Cardinals in 2024 as senior vice president of business operations. He previously was the Toronto Blue Jays’ executive vice president of business operations.
“We all know what the Cardinals can be at their best,” Karunaratne said. “That’s what we’re building towards, and ultimately that matters. It matters to this organization, it matters to this city, and it matters to every one of our fans. We’re ready, and we’re going to get after it.”
The Cardinals qualified for postseason play 17 times in DeWitt Jr.’s first 27 seasons at the helm of the franchise and drew at least 2.9 million fans in every full season from 1998 through 2023.
The club, however, has not made the postseason since 2022. Attendance has dropped to 30-year lows.
“Like the business, there’s been a lot of change, and it’s change that has been accelerating, probably over the last five years, and I think right now baseball organization is in good shape with Chaim and some of the changes he’s made,” DeWitt III said. “I come at it more as somebody that is ready and sort of willing to go a little deeper into the organization on the baseball side than perhaps I have in the past and just really learn. When you’re in this role for 18 years, you know everybody in the business side, so when issues come up, what people’s opinions are, you’re collecting them where people are coming from. I want to get to that point on the baseball side.”
DeWitt III’s promotion continues a family legacy in the game of baseball that dates back to his grandfather.
“I love pointing out my grandfather’s role here, he was here about 20 years as treasurer, worked with Branch Rickey, and that’s a point of pride for me,” DeWitt III said. “It’s pretty cool. It isn’t too often that you see, particularly in an organization like this, have that much heritage in one family.”
Original reporting: KSAT Sports (San Antonio) — read the source article.
