When Gene Michael was able to build the Yankees at the expense of George Steinbrenner’s paying Howie Spira $40,000 to “dig up dirt” on Dave Winfield, earning the owner a “permanent” suspension from day-to-day management of the club from then-commissioner Fay Vincent (a ban that was later rescinded), “Stick,” a former scout turned general manager, designed a club not around foolhardy free agent signings or trades that gutted the farm system, but around the draft, much like what Brian Cashman has developed in the past few seasons.
Under Michael’s vision, the Yankees, with Bernie Williams already in the farm system, signed Mariano Rivera and drafted Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada.