Fired Nationals GM Mike Rizzo wants to buy a thank-you round for fans in DC before Home Run Derby
Rizzo posted on social media Friday an extended thank you to fans, which included an offer to buy a 'Round on Riz' over a couple of hours before the Home Run Derby in Atlanta.
Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were fired Sunday with the last-place Nationals headed for a sixth consecutive losing season since winning their first World Series in 2019. The moves came with the Nats holding the No. 1 pick in this weekend's amateur draft. Mike DeBartolo was named interim GM.
Rizzo, 64, had been general manager since 2009 and added the title of president of baseball operations four years later.
'From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each and every fan who has supported my goal to lead this franchise to greatness with integrity, honesty and professionalism,' Rizzo wrote. 'D.C. has become our home in every sense of the word and I could not imagine a better place to have done it all together than the nation's capital.'
Rizzo, a Chicago native, was a three-sport athlete at Holy Cross High School in River Grove and played baseball at Triton College and St. Xavier, out of which the California Angels drafted him in 1982.
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