One grew up in Plymouth, N.H., one in Swampscott, one in Walpole, N.H., the other in Weymouth, all fans of the Boston Red Sox.
Today, they constitute much of the organization's underpinning, literally and figuratively. Literally, they are based underground, below the Fenway Park box office at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Yawkey Way. Figuratively, they get the necessary and complex work -- contracts, arbitration casework, player recruitment, advance scouting, and more -- done.
They're an intrepid group, all between ages 28 and 33. Two are married. None has kids, though one has a child on the way. They are among Theo Epstein's most valued employees, all situated just feet outside the general manager's office at desks, cubicles, or small work stations.
"Officles," Epstein prefers.
They work until 7 most nights, sometimes until 2 a.m., sometimes all night. They are representative of the zeitgeist that now pervades Major League Baseball: young, analytical, and armed with broad skill sets. They favor black sweaters over shirts and ties, pickup football and basketball over more passive pastimes.
Meet Jed Hoyer, Peter Woodfork, Galen Carr, and Brian O'Halloran. Each played a vital, if muted, role in putting the Sox in position to win the World Series, though they'd have you believe otherwise. The four of them and Epstein downplay their roles and emphasize that the entire front office and the players deserve the credit.
If Dave Roberts gets thrown out at second, O'Halloran pointed out, the four of them are nobodies.
"I think we're nobodies anyway," Woodfork said.
The reality, though, is that they have Epstein's ear on day-to-day, major league matters. And, along with assistant GM Josh Byrnes, director of player development Ben Cherington, and director of minor league administration Raquel Ferreira, they form Epstein's immediate circle of trust.
Jed Hoyer
Birthdate: 12/7/73
Title: Assistant to the general manager
Hoyer's two hits off Washburn -- "One was a ground ball hit, one was legitimate," -- didn't get the Plymouth, N.H., native anywhere near the big leagues. Upon graduation, Hoyer, now 31, went to work in the admissions offices at Kenyon College in Ohio, then Wesleyan.
