The shortstop who built a Yankees dynasty

As a ballplayer, Gene Michael ranks as a footnote in the glorious history of the New York Yankees. Nicknamed “Stick” for his lanky physique, he was the archetypal slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstop, with a meager .229 batting average and just 15 home runs in a decade-long career. But what Michael lacked in statistical luster, he made up for in brains. As a Yankees executive under mercurial owner George Steinbrenner, he was chief architect of a dynasty that produced four championships in the 1990s. A peerless evaluator of talent, Michael nurtured stars such as Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada—known as the “Core Four”—and signed other cornerstone players, such as Paul O’Neill and David Cone. His alchemy combined statistical and empirical analyses. “Numbers are important,” Michael said, “only to the degree you can blend them with what a scout has seen with his own eyes.” Born in Kent, Ohio, Michael “played baseball and was also an outstanding basketball player at Kent State University,” said The New York Times. Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1957, he didn’t crack the big leagues until 1966, bouncing to the Dodgers, then to the Yankees. Michael anchored the team’s infield during the late ’60s and early ’70s, “when baseball’s most storied franchise went into decline.” But he was widely respected among fellow players for “his knowledge of the game and his no-nonsense attitude,” said The Washington Post. He could be devilishly clever, several times pulling off the hidden ball trick—tagging unsuspecting runners who didn’t realize he had the ball. After retiring in 1975, Michael managed the Yankees and Chicago Cubs, and then returned to New York’s front office for good. Among his countless savvy moves, none was more astute than moving the young starter Rivera to the bullpen, where he became “the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history.” Michael “quit as general manager after the 1995 season,” said the Associated Press. “Spending much of the year in Florida, where he often played golf,” he served as the team’s vice president of big-league scouting and remained a fixture in various roles until his death. Asked if he’d ever retire, Michael quipped, “I’m getting paid to watch baseball. Why would I walk away from that?”