Michael Passes

Former player and general manager Gene Michael died today, Thursday, of a heart attack:

Michael served as Yankees manager in 1981 and 1982, and as their general manager from 1990 to 1995.

During his time as GM, he restocked the farm system and built the Core Four of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada via the draft or free agency. He also traded for Paul O’Neill to shape the group that helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

My thought go out to his family and friends.

Gene Michael, in a way, defined my baseball world. He became the Yankees everyday shortstop in 1969, the year I started paying attention to the game. Growing in southern Connecticut, it was the Yankees and Mets and that filled my TV and radio. Michael had a pretty good year at the plate in 1969, but he was already old four years into his MLB career and never matched those numbers again. Still, he stayed the Yankees shortstop through the 1973 season and into a bit of 1974. I remember he honored before a game by some local town, and said something like, “I think this is the first time a .227 hitter got a night!”

He later became a field manager, but it was in the front office that Michael shone. He learned how to deflect the rants of George Steinbrenner by conveniently forgetting what he was told to do. He used Steinbrenner’s suspension to build the base of the 1990s champions, much as Gabe Paul did when Steinbrenner was suspended in the 1970s. He remained a trusted adviser the rest of his life. It’s a sad day for me.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2eP2a6Z