He’s the common thread weaving between this baseball summer that has both the Yankees and Mets in first place in late August.
There aren’t many people off the Gene “Stick” Michael tree in the game these days, but three of them – Brian Cashman, Billy Eppler, and Buck Showalter – will be at Yankee Stadium tonight to begin round two of the Subway Series.
Michael, who passed away suddenly in September 2017 at age 79, was a mentor to all three men at various stages. Before the 1992 season, Michael, as Yankees General Manager, hired Showalter as manager and Cashman as assistant GM. And in the mid 2000’s when Michael served as an advisor to Cashman, he tutored Eppler, who was then a Yankees pro scout.
Last year Eppler, who worked under Cashman for a decade, hired Showalter as the Mets manager.
“During the interview process we caught each other saying things that were very familiar to each other,” Eppler said. “He’d smirk and say ‘That’s a Gene Michael phrase,’ and I’d say ‘actually that’s a Brian Cashman phrase.’ And he’d say, ‘Well, you know.’”
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Showalter has always gained praise for seeing things that others don’t, an attention to detail that seems above and beyond. Part of that can be traced back to Michael.
“He was maybe the best talent evaluator I ever saw,” Showalter said. “He was big about off-ball.”
“Off-ball” is a concept I understood, but that exact phrase I had not heard until Showalter said it to me in his office last month at Citi Field. And then three hours later, standing outside the Mets clubhouse, Eppler used the exact came phrase.
“It’s pretty easy to watch the game and see this guy’s got a good arm, this guy has good range; let’s face it. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to do that,” Showalter explained. “But (Michael) would watch off-ball a lot. Are you backing up a bag? Are you interacting with your teammates? Are you anticipating things that might happen? And even if they don’t, are they prepared for things? Stick was great off-ball.”
And why was that so important to gauge?
“Because your sincerity in the way you approach things that play so well in big markets is so apparent in the spontaneity of a moment,” Showalter said.
“He talked about concentration a lot,” Eppler said. “What I really took away were some of the cues to look for in a player, and a lot of it was off-ball things, so I tried to look more off the ball – at the fielders or the on-deck hitter – understanding their ability to focus and concentrate. He characterized that as kind of a separator between players. ‘Can he handle New York?’ Those are the kinds of things Stick looked for to answer that question.”
“Focus was a big thing (for Michael),” Cashman said. “He always used that word a lot. He’d say ‘this player is focused, that’s gonna serve him well.’”
Michael also taught all three men how to be strong in their convictions.
“You’ve got to stand up for yourself,” Michael told Cashman in preparation for dealing with The Boss, George Steinbrenner. “If you let him run over you, then you’re done, you’ve got no chance, he will use and abuse you.”
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“I would watch Stick have legendary fights (with Steinbrenner) on the speaker phone or in person, and I was very uncomfortable as they’d go toe to toe,” Cashman said. “So I kind of learned at Gene Michael’s feet to stand up for myself and fight for what I believed, and he encouraged that.”
Eppler asked Michael for his advice upon taking his first GM job in Anaheim in 2014.
“Don’t back down,” Michael told Eppler. “If you feel something and you’ve done the work on it, trust yourself.”
Showalter admired and valued Michael’s ability to navigate the daily grind, his preparation, and knowledge allowing him to live comfortably with the outcomes, win or lose.
“He made a decision, lived with it and moved on,” Showalter said. “He said, ‘You’re gonna mess up, and when you do, don’t compound it by keeping that problem there.’”
And Michael encouraged Showalter, a first time major league manager then, in nearly the exact opposite manner in regards to certain dealings with The Boss.
“One time Mr. Steinbrenner wanted these navy blue sweat suits for spring training and I was fighting him. And Stick said, ‘Buck, fight him on the things that are really important. There’s going to be enough things to fight about. Let him have those things that aren’t really going to affect our ability to win or lose.’ And I’ve always kept that in mind.”
Michael’s greatest attribute might have been his willingness to engage in honest baseball talk with all around him, talking and teaching to anyone willing to listen.
Eppler and Cashman both made scouting trips with Michael, and whether they were car rides, plane flights, or the three hours seated behind home plate during a game, they came away smarter than when they started, even if that simply meant more confidence in their own evaluations.
“He was just a kind, gentle soul,” Cashman said. “Always giving his time. And it wasn’t under the umbrella of giving back. It was just who he was. He made you feel comfortable even if you were nobody. Guys like him, you were in the room and they treated you as their own. He was welcoming, warm, and kind. And he was obviously really good at what he did.”
Next month marks five years since Michael’s death. As the Yankees and Mets meet for the final time this year (unless they meet again in October), Michael’s influence is alive and well as both teams prepare for September pennant races.
“He had a certain sincerity about him and a toughness,” Showalter said. “He had a real sweet side to him and a real tough side to him, too. He impacted a lot of people along the way. We’d all like to live a life as impactful as Gene’s was.”
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