David Forst

Lore & Background

Forst began his front office career as a scout with the Athletics in 2000, before working his way to general manager in 2015. He was born in Santa Monica, California, and raised in Encino, California. He attended Brentwood School in Brentwood, Los Angeles. He graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in sociology from Harvard in 1998, where he played college baseball for the Harvard Crimson as starting shortstop and team captain. He attended spring training with the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and played for the Springfield Capitals of the independent Frontier League in 1998 and 1999. He became the Athletics' assistant general manager in 2004, succeeding Paul DePodesta. After the 2015 season, with Billy Beane promoted to executive vice president of baseball operations, Forst was promoted to general manager. On August 7, 2026, Forst was fired as the Athletics' general manager, with assistant general manager Dan Feinstein serving as interim for the remainder of the season.

In Their Own Story

The Coliseum parking lot was empty except for a single row of sedans, their headlights still warm, and the smell of old rubber and chain-link metal hanging in the October air. David Forst stood at the edge of the warning track, hands in the pockets of a charcoal overcoat, watching the last groundsman drag a hose across the infield dirt. There was no crowd, no broadcast, no front-office war room. Just the hum of the stadium lights buzzing overhead and the faint echo of a bat tapping a ball against the backstop somewhere in the empty stands. He'd been here a thousand times after the final out, walking the diamond alone, listening to the building settle. Twenty-some years of seasons compressed into the creak of the retractable roof and the distant clink of a gate latch. He didn't need to check a spreadsheet or a cap-expenditure model right now. He just needed to stand where the shortstop's glove would meet the ball, and remember what it felt like to own a team that the whole city still talked about at dinner tables, even when the standings said they shouldn't.

Reader's Guide

David Forst is not the owner of the Athletics; he was a baseball executive who served as general manager from 2015 until his firing in 2026. He worked under Billy Beane, not as an owner above Beane.

Did You Know?

• Forst met his wife, Rebe Glass, at Harvard, where she was captain of the soccer team and a member of the 1997 All-Ivy Second Team.
• In his senior year at Harvard, Forst batted .406/.437/.624 and set a school record with 67 hits.
• Forst turned down opportunities to interview for the general manager position with the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.