I was standing behind the batting cage watching the hitters and thinking about years gone by. I was thinking about Bobby Murcer and Jerry Kenny just getting back from the Army in 1969.
I was thinking about Lou Piniella taking his first swing in the cage in 1974 and loving the fact that he was wearing a Yankee uniform. I was thinking about Reggie Jackson and the fact that the first uniform he wore had a number twenty on his back.
That uniform would later be given to Bucky Dent. Reggie would then ask for uniform number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson and he just wasn’t happy with that one so then The historic clubhouse manager Pete Sheehy would give Reggie uniform number 44. To Pete, the 44 represented Lou Gehrig’s uniform number 4 twice because Gehrig was Pete’s favorite player.
Naturally, I thought about Thurman Munson and how he would always go about his business in the cage. I would think about Billy Martin and how on a day game he would always wear his big sunglasses to cover up his bloodshot eyes. He hated day games after night games because he never got enough sleep the night before. I was so caught up with yesteryear while watching batting practice that I got startled when I felt a hand grab my shoulder.
It was the hand of Gene Monohan. He came over to give me a hug. As the long time trainer for the Yankees Gene represented the bridge between the Thurman Munson era and Aaron Judge and the Yankees of today. Gene has seen it all and lived it all. Gene comes from an era when he literally had to tape players together and get them on the field.
He comes from the era when there was only one trainer and there would literally be a waiting area in the trainer’s room. Gene had to always deliver the good the bad and the ugly news as far as players availability for that days game. That wasn’t always an easy task when you were dealing with Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner.
Gene had to be honest yet political. He had to be able to somehow keep 25 players healthy and happy. He had to deal with the super stars egos and yet make the rest of the players feel like they were as important as the stars. He was as much a psychologist as he was a physical trainer. Then he had to deal with all my clubhouse antics.
Remember that the Yankees of that era were known as the Bronx Zoo. We were absolutely crazy and we all knew it. It was just our way of staying loose. Gene would have been a great poker player because he would always keep a straight face even though I knew he was laughing inside when Sparky Lyle would do something crazy like sit naked on a cake after the Boss would have it delivered into the clubhouse for someone’s birthday. There were many clubhouse antics surrounding Gene Monohan that he always handled great but those situations are for him to talk about.
During spring training of 1977 he finally talked The Boss into hiring a much needed assistant trainer. The first being Herman Schneider who was absolutely wonderful both as a trainer and a man and when we lost Herman to the White Sox we got Barry Weinberg who was also a great trainer and person. We lost him to the A’s when Billy Martin went there in 1980.
That’s when Gene found the wonderful Steve Donohue. Gene did everything in his power never to lose Steve because he was every bit as good as Herman and Barry. To this day Steve is still there. The Yankees were actually the first team to have two trainers thanks to Gene. I was actually in the room when The Boss walked in and said … Gene I have thought about it and I think you are right. It’s time for a change. Let’s go with two trainers.
I will never forget the look of happiness in the faces of Gene and Herman. I actually thought that Herman was going to cry because his eyes got watery and he couldn’t stop smiling. I think all of baseball owes Gene Monohan a big debt of gratitude because, in his own way, he has been a pioneer in baseball’s training dept. I love him because he was always wonderful to me and like me… he was originally a BATBOY!
