Pete Laven is out as general manager of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team, and Paul Allen is filling in on an interim basis, a front office official at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock confirmed to Arkansas Business on Tuesday.
David Kay, assistant general manager for tickets, is out also, according to a source.
Allen is the assistant general manager for sales.
Reached late Tuesday morning, Phil Elson, who broadcasts Traveler baseball games and handles media relations for the team, would only confirm that Laven and Kay were no longer with the organization.
Laven, 42, was named general manager in 2007. He joined the Travelers organization as an intern in 1992 after graduating from Eastern Illinois University in 1991. He served as director of stadium operations at the club's former home, Ray Winder Field, in 1993.
Laven left the organization the following year, working for minor league teams in Kane County, Ill., Albany, Ga., and Kannapolis, N.C. He rejoined the Travs as assistant GM in 2004, and was named Texas League Executive of the Year in 2006 before his promotion the following year.
Laven's duties as general manager included all promotions, advertising, ticket sales and public relations, according to the Travelers website.
Laven was the team's first general manager after Bill Valentine, who had led the organization from 1976 to 2007, when Valentine became executive vice president. He retired from the organization in 2009.
Allen, a Las Vegas native, began his baseball career as a Travs intern in 2005. After a season as a corporate events planner for the Birmingham Barons, Allen returned to the Travs in 2007 as director of group sales.
According to the team's website, Allen handles group outings and picnics at Dickey-Stephens Park and plans the team's travel.
