In the months preceding the 1984 season, the Red Sox were embroiled in a legal dispute involving two ownership factions seeking control of the team. Gorman was named a vice president of baseball operations in the Boston front office in January 1984; then, five months later, when the legal case was settled, he was officially appointed vice president and general manager, succeeding co-owner Haywood Sullivan, who moved up to chief executive officer. When Gorman took on the general manager job June 6, the Red Sox already had players like Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans and Bob Stanley, stars that would form the nucleus of the talented Red Sox teams of the late 1980s. However, it was Gorman's acquisitions (from the Mariners) of Dave Henderson and Spike Owen and closer Calvin Schiraldi (from the Mets) that helped lead the Red Sox to the 1986 World Series. In the spring of 1987, unhappy about his contract, Roger Clemens left spring training, which prompted Gorman to quip, "The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I'll have lunch."