The Yankees Gene Michael: Plenus annis abiit, plenus honoribus.
By Cory Claus
The Yankees lost Gene Micheal this week, their architect of fate. And the hunter has returned home from the hills.
A Yankees legend passed this week. Like all men, his legacy is his words and, more importantly, his deeds. First, his words. Gene Michael was not a man for florid speeches, and I never met the man, leaving me incapable of any true reportage.
But others did. So I will leave it to them, to Buster Olney and Donnie Passmore and others more fortunate than I, to relate the man through his soft spoken but powerfully insightful comments.
Instead, let us look at the man through his actions. Of course, the most notable achievement any man can claim is to live a good life; to be a good person. Here we learn about Stick by what we have heard and what we have not.
There have been many stories about Gene this week. Not one of them has revealed a meanness to the man. Add that to the lack of stories in the tabloids over the years, and an assumption can be made: The Yankees Gene Michael was a good man.
The Yankees Dynasty was not Built in a Day
That just leaves the work he left behind. Here, I must turn for help. Even a short review, as this is to be, shows the size of the man, and his accomplishments. Plato would advise, perhaps, that only a great man can write about another one; that is certainly not me.
So I have turned to a few of the noted male and female writers of the past. I have stood on their shoulders and cribbed their writing. It seems their words were waiting to be used for Mr. Michael, and a eulogy I could never write.
He was The Builder; nothing to him was useless or low. Stick helped build Yankees players, careers, and men. He built teams and dynasties. It is true that,
"All are architects of Fate,Working in these walls of Time;Some with massive deeds and great,Some with ornaments of rhyme."
And it is true that Gene was the architect of much of the Yankees fate.
Derek Jeter had this to say:
"“Gene Michael was not only largely responsible for the success of the Yankees organization, but also for my development as a player,” Jeter said. “He was always accessible and willing to share his personal knowledge as well as support. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family.”"
Give All for Love
But more importantly, in this sad Yankees dirge, is why he did the work that he did. Stick could have been a general manager again at any time. Before the last out was recorded in the 2000 World Series, Michael was already
highly desirable.
I guess that he was on the short list every time a GM job came open. I’m sure there were many offers, just as the Steinbrenners were willing to match any monetary motivations.
Still, he could have left for the title, the power, and the prestige. Imagine his stature if he had led the Cubs to a World Series title.
But Michael was that rarest of men who would rather work for the greater good of the Yankees, the team he loved. He knew he could do his best for the organization behind the scenes, at least as far as the glamorous side of baseball is concerned.
Stick loved to scout young players. He loved to find the best players and people, and help them become the best Yankees. If they were wise, they heard the words unspoken by Stick, the words emanating from his soul:
"It is the hour of fate, and they who follow me reach every state mortals desire, and conquer every foe, save death…"
Yes, Gene, always save death.
The Clay, ready for the Maker
Gene worked on the farm, often in the shadows, building the big club one prospect at a time.
Every day, he reached into the foundational clay that is the future talent and got his hands dirty. Along the way, he became Alice Cary’s definition of Nobility:
"True worth is in being, not seeming,—In doing, each day that goes by, Some little good—not in dreaming, Of great things to do by and by."
It is slow, laborious work with more far more failure than success. And any success you do have is not fully realized for years to come. For every Derek Jeter, there are a hundred Rob Refsnyders. Not the role of a man with an ego or need for instant gratification.
No, this is the job for the man of foresight, the man of patience. This is the job for the man who works lovingly, slowly, always seeing what the Yankees can be years before they see it themselves. It’s the job for a man who loves the Yankees as he loves himself.
It was always the job for Gene “Stick” Michael.
For the Love of the Game, and the Yankees
For Gene, who was always more actions than words, I will keep this short.
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He is gone now. The work that he did for the Yankees has been on display since before the last dynasty.
That work, so lovingly provided, will continue to benefit the Yankees for years as players such as Thairo Estrada fulfill their destinies. Thairo recently related not only his feelings but showed how deep is the impact of the man. His comments come after his first career cycle helped even the Thunder’s current playoff series:
"“We know who he is and what he’s done for the Yankees and what he represented for the organization,” Estrada said. “So we were glad to be able to play the game the way we did it and achieve the things that we did [Thursday] because of what he meant for the organization. Definitely something that we can say, ‘Hey, we did it in honor of him.'”"
When you think of the greatness of Rome, you start with those who built it. The same is true for the Yankees. And Gene was always their master builder, taking the raw building blocks of teenagers and molding them to fit the eternal Yankees edifice.
And he left a legacy for all of us to follow.
"Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;"
"Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait."
To labor and to wait. That is the very definition of the role Stick chose for himself.
Next: Please Read Mike Calendrillo's Fond Farewell to Yankees legend, Stick
Goodbye to a true Yankees Legend
Gene Michael might one day end up in monument park. If so, it will be a fitting homecoming. With that in mind, I will give the last word to R. S. Stevenson, and a possible inscription on that truly earned Yankees monument:
"Under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie.Glad did I live and gladly die, and I lay me down with a will.This be the verse you grave for me:Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea,And the Hunter home from the hill."