Brian McGuire Cashman (born July 3, 1967) is an American baseball executive for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has served as the general manager and senior vice president of the Yankees since 1998. During Cashman's tenure as general manager, he inherited a core that was built by Gene Michael and Bob Watson, and the Yankees have won seven American League pennants and four World Series championships.
Cashman began working with the Yankees organization in 1986 as an intern while still in college. He was named assistant general manager in 1992, helping to run the team while owner George Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball. He succeeded Bob Watson as the team's general manager in 1998.
Contents
Early life
Cashman was born in Rockville Centre, New York, and raised in Washingtonville, New York. He was raised in an Irish Catholic family, as the middle of five children born to Nancy and John Cashman. He became a baseball fan at a young age, attending a summer camp hosted by Bucky Dent before starting high school. He grew up as a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. While visiting his grandmother in Florida, he served as a batboy for the Dodgers during spring training in 1982, with the help of former Dodger Ralph Branca, a family friend.
The Cashman family moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where his father managed Castleton Farm, raising standardbreds for harness racing. Cashman described moving out of Washingtonville before starting high school as "the best thing to happen to [him], to get out of there."
Cashman attended Lexington Catholic High School before moving to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, graduating in 1985. Cashman played baseball and junior varsity basketball at both schools, and added football in his senior year. Brian was classmates with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and two years after future Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Catholic University of America offered Cashman the opportunity to play college baseball for the Catholic Cardinals, competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III, guaranteeing him playing time as a freshman. He was a four-year starter at second base and the team's leadoff hitter. He set a school record for most hits in a season, which has since been broken. He earned a bachelor's degree with a major in history in 1989.
New York Yankees (1986–present)
George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, met John Cashman when he managed Pompano Park in Pompano Beach, Florida, and the two became friends. Through another family friend, John helped Brian obtain a position with the Yankees organization as an intern in 1986. He worked in the minor league scouting department in the day, and worked security at night. After Cashman graduated from Catholic, the Yankees offered him a position as a baseball operations assistant, which he accepted.
Steinbrenner was banned from baseball in July 1990 for hiring a gambler to investigate Dave Winfield. Gene Michael, then the Yankees' general manager, took over daily operations of the Yankees, and Cashman played a role in assisting him. He was promoted to assistant farm director that year, and to major league administrator in 1991. Michael named Cashman an assistant general manager in 1992. He remained in the role after Bob Watson succeeded Michael as general manager in 1995. The Yankees won the 1996 World Series.
General Manager (1998–present)
In February 1998, Watson resigned from the Yankees, and Cashman was named senior vice-president and general manager. He agreed to a one-year contract for $300,000, and became the second-youngest general manager in MLB history. The Yankees won 114 games during the 1998 season, and won the 1998 World Series. In 1999, Cashman traded fan favorite David Wells to the Toronto Blue Jays to acquire Roger Clemens. The next year, he acquired David Justice, who won the American League Championship Series (ALCS) Most Valuable Player Award for his play in the 2000 ALCS. The Yankees won the 2000 World Series, making Cashman the first general manager to win World Series titles in his first three years. In 2004, Cashman arranged the trade of Alfonso Soriano for Alex Rodriguez.
Despite the team's success, Cashman considered leaving the Yankees in 2005 due to conflicts with Steinbrenner and organizational disputes between team officials in New York City and Tampa, Florida. The Washington Nationals were rumored to be interested in hiring Cashman, which would have brought him back to the city where he attended school. Instead, Cashman agreed to a new contract with the Yankees following the conclusion of the 2005 season which gave him more authority in personnel decisions and paid him an average of $1.3 million more over the following three years.
With the increased authority, Cashman created a department of professional scouting, and tabbed Billy Eppler as its director. Later, Eppler would move on to become the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. On September 30, 2008, Cashman signed a three-year contract to stay with the Yankees through the 2011 season. Following the 2008 season, when the Yankees failed to make the playoffs, Cashman signed CC Sabathia, A. J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira to long-term free agent contracts and traded for Nick Swisher. These four players played a significant role in the 2009 Yankees season, culminating with a victory in the 2009 World Series.
The Yankees went on to make the playoffs again following the 2010 season, but lost to the Texas Rangers in the 2010 American League Championship Series. Following the 2010 season, Cashman held a hard line with Derek Jeter during contract negotiations, reportedly telling Jeter that he would prefer to have Troy Tulowitzki as the Yankees' starting shortstop, though a deal was eventually made for three years and $45 million.
Honors
Cashman was named to Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 list for 1999. The Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America selected Cashman as their MLB Executive of the Year for 2009. In 2010, Cashman was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball America selected Cashman as its Executive of the Year in 2017.
Cashman was also involved in the developing of the video game MLB Front Office Manager.
Personal life
Cashman has two children, Grace and Theodore, with his ex-wife Mary. Mary filed for divorce in February 2012; they had been reportedly separated for a year. The day prior, prosecutors charged a woman with stalking Cashman in an attempt to extort money regarding an extramarital affair. He is married to his second wife, Kimberley A. Brennan, and they reside in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is a Kentucky Wildcats and New Jersey Devils fan.
Cashman has referred to himself as an "adrenaline junkie." In December 2010, Cashman rappelled from a 350-foot (110 m) building in Stamford, Connecticut as part of an annual Stamford Christmas celebration. He jumped from an airplane with members of the United States Army Parachute Team to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project and broke his right fibula and dislocated his right ankle in the process. In November 2014, Cashman slept on a New York City sidewalk to raise awareness on behalf of homeless youth.