The Florida Panthers general manager is once again the man of the hour, but this time, it has nothing to do with hockey.
With the Milwaukee Brewers returning to the World Series for the first time in 44 years, Zito’s baseball past has suddenly become a popular topic among hockey and baseball media.
And it’s a good story.
Long before Zito built a team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups, he was a teenage bat boy for the Brewers during their memorable 1982 season. Now, as Milwaukee prepares to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series beginning Friday, October 23, the Panthers' general manager finds himself revisiting the people and experiences that helped shape his career.
In a recent interview with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Zito said he hopes to attend one of the first two World Series games in Milwaukee.
The Panthers will be in Chicago this weekend before facing the Blackhawks on Sunday, giving him an opportunity to make the trip.
A bat boy with hockey dreams
Zito grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee. He loved baseball, but hockey was his passion. At 16, he began working for the Brewers as a bat boy and clubhouse attendant. According to NHL.com, he spent three summers with the organization, from 1981 through 1983.
The experience included Milwaukee’s 1982 World Series appearance, when the Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
But the biggest influence on Zito’s future came from someone who wasn’t playing on the field.
The Brewers general manager Harry Dalton took an interest in the young employee and introduced him to the business side of professional sports.
In a 2022 interview with Matt Larkin of The Hockey News, Zito recalled how Dalton welcomed his questions, explained the scouting process, and encouraged him to consider a career in management.
Dalton even suggested that Zito could become a general manager someday. But, there was one problem: Zito wanted to play hockey.
Dalton encouraged him to follow that dream while keeping sports management in mind as another possibility. Zito later recalled that his family and high school friends joked that he wanted to be like Dalton.
Meanwhile, life inside the Brewers clubhouse gave him plenty of memorable experiences.
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, pitcher Rollie Fingers slipped Zito $20 bills, while infielder Jim Gantner followed him to his high school football games and teased him about the results. Moreover, Paul Molitor even attended Zito’s high school hockey games during the winter.
Those relationships offered to young Zito something special: a chance to see how established stars behaved away from competition.
From the Brewers to the Panthers
Zito eventually pursued hockey, playing at Yale University and briefly in Finland before earning a law degree and becoming an NHL player agent.
He joined the Columbus Blue Jackets’ front office in 2013 and became the Panthers’ general manager in September 2020.
In Florida, he helped build a championship roster through moves that included acquiring Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk, claiming Gustav Forsling off waivers, and hiring head coach Paul Maurice.
The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 before winning their first championship in 2024. They followed it with another title in 2025, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in both championship series. Despite spending most of his professional career in hockey, Zito carried lessons from his years in Milwaukee into his work with the Panthers.
In his recent conversation with Gulitti, Zito remembered how the Brewers’ biggest stars treated their teammates and others around the organization. He saw similarities between that baseball clubhouse atmosphere and the Panthers teams that won consecutive Stanley Cups.
Zito acknowledged that his early experiences directly influenced the personalities he looks for when building a team.
“It impacts me every day,” he told NHL.com.
Bringing the Stanley Cup Back to Milwaukee
When the Panthers won their first Stanley Cup in 2024, Zito brought the trophy back to Milwaukee, including a visit to the Brewers' clubhouse at American Family Field. It was a chance to share hockey’s biggest prize with the community where his professional-sports journey began. Zito also reunited with longtime Brewers clubhouse manager Tony Migliaccio, who had worked for the organization during Zito’s years as a bat boy.
Back in the World Series spotlight
Forty-four years after Milwaukee’s last World Series appearance, Zito is following the Brewers’ latest championship run with the same enthusiasm he had as a teenager.
According to Gulitti’s report, Zito rushed home with his son Billy after a Panthers game to watch the final moments of Milwaukee’s victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers that secured its place in the World Series.
He also spoke about what the achievement means to Milwaukee, where his father still lives.
For Panthers fans, Zito’s story offers a different perspective on the executive who helped bring two Stanley Cups to South Florida.
Now, with the Brewers back in the World Series, the spotlight has returned to Zito for a completely different reason.
This time, he’s not the man who built a Stanley Cup champion. He’s the former Milwaukee bat boy who remembers what it was like to be part of the Brewers’ last World Series run. And, he is that teenager who followed his dreams.
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