By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Dave Dombrowski's place on a plaque in Cooperstown was sealed Oct. 28, 2018, as far as I'm concerned.

It won't happen next year, the year after or any time soon but it will likely happen closer to 2025.

The former Montreal Expos general manager and current Red Sox president of baseball operations has been at the helm of two World Series championship teams: one with the Florida Marlins in 1997 and then 21 years later with this year's Boston squad.

Those two championships cement Dombrowski's future election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

One World Series title wouldn't seal an executive's place in Cooperstown but two would. Long-time Royals and Braves GM John Schuerholz became a Cooperstown inductee in 2017 following a career that spanned 50 years and World Series titles with Kansas City in 1985 and Atlanta in 1995.

Former Blue Jays GM Pat Gillick was inducted into Cooperstown because he was at the helm of three World Series champions: the 1992-93 Jays and the 2008 Phillies.

Yet, Dombrowski is far from finished as a decision-maker. He's only 62 and will likely be running teams until he has reached the age of 70. Considering the calibre of the Red Sox, he could add to his list of World Series wins in short order.

All in all, this is Dombrowski's 40th year in baseball circles. His longevity in baseball in general will only add fuel to his eventual induction.

Dombrowski's rise in baseball began in a small way as an administrative assistant in the minor leagues with the Chicago White Sox in 1978 before he became an assistant GM with the club under Roland Hemond.

Dombrowski was purged in 1986 by Ken Harrelson during Hawk's short tenure as White Sox GM and Dombrowski resurfaced in the Expos’ front office as director of player development for the 1987 season under Bill Stoneman. Then on July 5, 1988, Dealer Dave became, at age 31, Montreal's wunderkind GM, the youngest in MLB at the time.

Dombrowski's baseball exposure increased tenfold in Montreal. He was actually the de facto GM of the Expos for a year after Murray Cook was fired in 1987 and then he was officially named GM a year later.

The 1989 Expos were the best Montreal team Dombrowski assembled and they should have fared a lot better than they did, especially after he acquired Mark Langston from the Seattle Mariners in the Randy Johnson trade. The Expos led the NL East for many weeks but they faltered miserably in August and September and fell out of the race.

By 1991, Dombrowski had left the Expos to build the Marlins expansion team, although Gillick was also considered a front runner. Dombrowski spent 10 years in Florida before spending 14 years with the Tigers, who made the post-season five times and won two American League pennants under his watch.

With the Red Sox, Dombrowski should add to his many laurels, all richly deserved.

Danny Gallagher's just-released book is called Blue Monday: the Expos, the Dodgers and the Home Run That Changed Everything. He will signing copies at the Canadian Baseball History Conference in London, Ont. Nov. 3 in mid-afternoon at the Old Courthouse on Ridout St. North.