ANAHEIM -- Just across his desk, on top of a bookshelf, Angels general manager Billy Eppler keeps a photo of him and Gene "Stick" Michael on the field at Yankee Stadium after the 2009 World Series.
It's one of the few pictures in his office that doesn't include a family member, though his relationship to Michael, who died Thursday from a heart attack at 79, was akin to that.
"First and foremost, he was a big mentor to myself and a lot of people within the Yankee organization," Eppler said. "He was just such a genuine and caring human being, but also an extremely brilliant baseball man.