“STICK”

Today, in my opinion, the baseball world lost the most intelligent talent evaluator that ever existed in Major League Baseball, Gene “Stick” Michael.  During his tenure in the late 1960s through 1975, he played shortstop for the NY Yankees with a strong throwing arm and a quick glove.  Later, he held many baseball administrative positions including Manager, General Manager, Third-Base Coach, Scout, Vice President of Major League Scouting, and lastly Vice President/Special Advisor.

He was a key contributor towards the signing of the Core Four (Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada) and Bernie Williams.  Later, he was the sole reason for the avoidance of trading away each of them during their pinstripe years.  Opposing General Managers sought trades for them, but he wisely declined.  Those declinations involved George Steinbrenner’s concurrence in most cases, which was not an easy thing to achieve.  George would typically jump for any opportunity to acquire more well-known players to help draw the fans’ delight and grow attention to the Yankees.  Stick, instead, showed a lot of strength and guts by dissuading George.  It also endangered Stick’s job security if he proved to be wrong.  As time passed, Stick’s strategy of promoting and retaining such young promising players proved to George Steinbrenner that the Yankees’ fans were on board with supporting youthful unknowns - demonstrated by the fact that the stadium and television audiences continued to grow.  Of course, it helped that the dynasty Stick built with the Core Four players promptly produced 4 out of 5 World Series Championships from 1996 through 2000.  That was enough persuasion for George!

Stick clearly had an eye for talent.  He was the first scout to emphasize the importance of walks (which help wear out starting pitchers) - a major factor in the acquisitions of Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neill, and Tino Martinez.  Also, he didn’t just examine mathematical statistics; he saw values in players’ intangible characteristics, such as morality, desire, and personal family values - traits most teams fail to strongly weigh.  In fact, even Derek Jeter’s parents were indirectly assessed by the Yankees because of Gene’s influence, before the Yankees committed to drafting Jeter as a first-round pick.  The other 3 member of the Core Four also offer such characteristics.  As a result, many non-Yankees fans who speak about the Core Four seem to have trouble expressing any “hate” of them because it’s hard to lambast players who have displayed such high characteristic qualities for such a long period, while winning so many championships. 

Stick’s intangible weighted values are still contributing towards the Yankees of 2017.  For example, Brian Cashman reacquired David Robertson - one of the players who displayed that strong desire and moral characteristics during his previous years as a Yankee.  Even today’s oldest active Yankee, CC Sabathia, continues to offer his own unending desire to win as he goes out to the mound wearing a leg brace - ignoring as much pain as he can.  Both CC and Robertson have also done so many good things for their selected charities with the personal aid of their wives (again, the family value Stick appreciated).  Stick personally contributed to many charities including one he leads for blind people.

Earlier today, I heard both Joe Girardi and Buck Showalter use the word “trust” when describing Stick, something Stick also earned from George.  Ironically, many past Yankees offered to talk about Stick’s high-quality/moral characteristics.

Lastly, I heard many say that the origin of his nickname, "Stick", was inconclusive.  Some thought it may have been related to his slim shape and some though it could have been used sarcastically towards his weak batting statistics.  As I thought about it more and more, I realized that I will always have my own reasoning - which is not even related to his playing days, but instead to his longer-tenured administrative days.  I will consider Gene Michael as Stick because he proved that the moral qualities he held so high regarding players' characteristics were retained by players a lot longer than their positive statistics as illustrated in today's overused sabermetrics.  In other words, some players will produce great numbers in short spans; some players will produce very good numbers during long spans; but, the morals, true desire, and large hearts of players (with family values) will always "Stick" to produce those key intangible values throughout their careers (and lives).  Thanks, Stick - rest in peace.