Yanks general manager Brian Cashman has been the head of baseball in the Bronx for over 25 years. He has been a World Champion 5 times and has rarely missed getting the team to the playoffs. Those types of statistics usually put you in consideration for the Hall of Fame after you’re done in the sports business.
I have great respect and admiration for Cashman for several reasons. Naturally one being his great achievements in the game. The other being how all season long he has heard the rumblings from fans who have the attitude of… What have you done for me lately? Ignorantly forgetting past achievements. Yet he keeps going head held high and business as always.
Never feeling sorry for himself yet I know that everything he does is always for the fans and the Yankees brand.
This week at the general manager’s meetings some people were shocked at his bark at the media however knowing Cashman I could tell that that was his competitive nature and disappointment for missing out on the Yankees not getting into the playoffs.
The true fans who have been there through thick and thin understand that there is a method to Cashman’s madness and will look forward to the positive things that we feel are ahead.
A big reason for my admiration is the fact that through the years he has been there for many charities and individuals in need even though he has one of the craziest schedules in sports. On many occasions, I have asked Cashman to help me out with philanthropic situations and he has been there.
Just last night he slept in the streets of New York to show awareness for a charity called Covenant House, which is a program that helps homeless kids. Cashman has been doing this for some time. Cashman even scales a tall building in Connecticut during Christmas for another charity that helps kids.
I like to think that I do an incredible amount of charity here in New York, however, I’m definitely not sleeping in the sometimes very dangerous streets of Times Square or climbing a skyscraper.
The reason I wanted to write this column on Cashman is just to let him know that he is appreciated for all that he continues to do both on and off the field. I also want him to know that even Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle at one time or another were also bood… but at the end of the day, THEY WERE WINNERS like him!
