When the Orioles went against the grain last week, essentially hiring not one, but two general managers, they received a nod of approval from a man who was last seen hoisting the World Series trophy.

Anaheim Angels general manager Bill Stoneman said he was not surprised to learn the Orioles had picked Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan for the top two spots in their baseball operations department.

"I'm not as familiar with Flanagan," Stoneman said, "but my gut says it's probably going to go pretty well."

Stoneman based his prediction on his own experience. Before going to the Angels in November 1999, he spent four years working in a similar partnership with Beattie for the Montreal Expos.

The Expos certainly weren't world beaters during that time, but considering the financial constraints they faced, Beattie and Stoneman earned respect throughout the baseball industry.

When it comes to the Orioles' new duo, fans here are already familiar with Flanagan, who has spent 25 years with the organization as a pitcher, pitching coach, broadcaster and consultant to owner Peter Angelos.

On Wednesday, Flanagan replaced Syd Thrift as the team's vice president of baseball operations, and Beattie assumed a slightly loftier title, as executive vice president of baseball operations.

So who is Beattie, and how will his hiring affect the Orioles?

Like Flanagan, Beattie is a former major-league pitcher who grew up in New England. With his Dartmouth education, Beattie often heard teammates tell him he should get into baseball management, and eventually he listened. Working first for the Seattle Mariners and then the Expos, Beattie established a track record that has the Orioles confident he'll be successful in this venture, too.

"What a valuable resource he will be in this process with his background from Montreal in the GM position," Flanagan said. "I think it's a terrific partnership. It's been a breath of fresh air the past couple days, to share our views."

Working relationships

Flanagan realized the chemistry between him and Beattie would work when he looked at his watch Tuesday, a day before the announcement was made, and realized he had already spent six or seven hours trading philosophies with Beattie.

Stoneman had a similar feeling when he first started working with Beattie.

In fall 1995, when Kevin Malone left Montreal and joined the Orioles, the Expos needed a new GM. Montreal's team president, Claude Brochu, put Stoneman in charge of finding one.

"Jim's name was at the top of my list," said Stoneman, who was the Expos' VP of baseball operations. "His interview with Claude was so impressive, he got the job offer on the spot."

As a pitcher, Beattie had gone 52-87 in nine seasons with the New York Yankees and Mariners. After retiring, he earned his MBA at the University of Washington and then rejoined the Mariners as farm director, where he oversaw a system that produced Alex Rodriguez, Shawn Estes and Jason Varitek, helping build a foundation that spurred several playoff runs.

But in Montreal, Beattie walked into a thankless situation. The Expos had been the darlings of baseball in 1994, before a labor dispute wiped out the postseason. In 1995, ownership started dismantling the club for financial purposes.

"I can't think of a person who would have gone into Montreal and turned them into a playoff team," Stoneman said. "It wasn't going to happen."

The Expos finished second in the National League East in 1996 with a team that had Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, David Segui (now an Oriole) and Henry Rodriguez. Within two years, they were all gone.

Martinez won the Cy Young Award in 1997, but the Expos could no longer afford his salary. Calling it the toughest thing he had ever done, Beattie traded Martinez to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Carl Pavano and Tony Armas.

The Expos never finished higher than fourth in Beattie's final five seasons in Montreal. The year after they traded Martinez, their on-field payroll was about $9 million. It rose to about $15 million in 1999, still about $70 million less than the Orioles' payroll that year.

As GM, Beattie took the heat while Stoneman worked behind the scenes. Basically, Stoneman handled most administrative and financial matters, and Beattie handled the personnel.

"I reported to the president, and he reported to the president," Stoneman said. "It always worked that way. I don't remember a contentious moment [with Beattie]. We didn't agree on everything, but we always worked through it. Jim's such a great guy. If you can't get along with Jim Beattie, you can't get along with a lot of people."

A new start

Stoneman left for Anaheim after the 1999 season, leaving Beattie to handle the new ownership group headed by Jeffrey Loria. Though Beattie had a little more money to spend, the payroll never rose above $32 million, and Loria pushed for the disastrous trade that sent Ted Lilly and two other pitching prospects to the Yankees for pitcher Hideki Irabu.

In May 2001, the Expos fired manager Felipe Alou. Beattie resigned at the end of that season. He had finished two three-year contracts, and with his working visa about to expire, he had concerns about enrolling his three teenage children in French- speaking schools.

Beattie moved back to Hanover, N.H., and came close to taking a job as Dartmouth's athletic director. He wanted to stay in baseball, but it wasn't easy. Last March, he returned to the Expos in a scouting role under new GM Omar Minaya.

"I think that [Dartmouth AD possibility] took me off the radar screen of a lot of clubs," Beattie said.

So he kept calling around, and when he heard the Orioles were ready to replace Thrift, Beattie contacted Angelos, who gave him an interview and eventually the job. Angelos was delighted once he saw how well Flanagan and Beattie hit it off.

In demeanor, Beattie seems like a button-downed version of Flanagan, whose quick wit has always delighted the media. But Beattie has his own dry sense of humor, and he displayed plenty of charisma at his introductory news conference.

Afterward, when a reporter asked him about the Expos' potentially moving to Washington, Beattie said: "My position on that has sure changed in the last two weeks."

Expos employees might see Washington as the promised land, but Beattie now works for Angelos, whose opposition toward another team moving into this region is well-documented.

Beattie and Flanagan will figure out in time how their roles are divided, but this past weekend's negotiations with free-agent shortstop Mike Bordick offered a glimpse. After consulting with special assistant Ed Kenney and other front office members, Beattie and Flanagan both made the club's proposals to agent Joe Bick.

When it was apparent a deal would not be struck, Flanagan told Angelos and then handled the media. Last week, Beattie said he would have no problem doing most of his work behind the scenes, likening it to the role senior vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman plays working with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

So even though Beattie figures to have a major influence on all Orioles decisions, Flanagan might be the one in the spotlight doing most of the interviews.

"He's been behind the microphone a lot more than I have," Beattie said, "so if he wants that job, he's welcome to it."

For now, Beattie seems just happy he wound up in Baltimore. After spending so much time in Seattle's Kingdome (which has since been demolished) and Montreal's Olympic Stadium (another indoor albatross), Beattie said he has a hard time working in the warehouse without constantly staring into Camden Yards.

"To have this scenario play out the way it has," Beattie said, "I don't think I could have written it any better."