Kevin Cash’s baseball history covered in cool infographics
The Tampa Bay Rays ended their month long search for a manager on Friday, naming 37-year-old Kevin Cash the fifth skipper in franchise history.
In doing so, the Rays not only have the youngest current manger in MLB, they also became the latest franchise to hand over the keys to a newcomer in the managerial game. It’s a trend that has picked up steam over the past four years, particularly with former catchers. Since 2011, Mike Matheny, Mike Redmond and Brad Ausmus all belong to that group, and all three seem to range from reasonable to rock solid hires at this early stage in their respective tenures.
That’s the encouraging news for Cash.
Perhaps not so encouraging. A lot of casual fans out there may not be familiar with who he is or where he’s been. At least not compared to his aforementioned counterparts. Each of those men appeared in at least 784 games at the big league level. Though Cash spent parts of eight seasons in a Major League uniform, he only appeared in 246 games, and hit a meager .183 to boot.
His impact as a player was much closer to marginal than memorable, but he does have a life long connection to Tampa and quite an interesting history in baseball that goes beyond his quick rise to the managerial perch. For those unfamiliar, the Rays captured that history and put it in perspective in a pair of interesting infographics.
It’s interesting to note the three previous managers who were born Tampa Bay. Al Lopez and Tony La Russa are already in the Hall of Fame. At some point, Lou Piniella could and probably should join them.
No pressure though, Kevin.
Awesome middle name aside, one trend stands out here.
Little League success. College success. Minor league success. Not to mention two World Series rings as a player. If nothing else, success seems to follow Cash everywhere he goes.
Perhaps the same could be said of the Rays, who despite their financial limitations and less than ideal stadium set up always seem to be positioned for success. Even with major changes in the front office, that should be the case again in 2015, meaning Cash will go immediately under the microscope.
That leads to the obvious question: Will the string of success continue for both sides, or will the situation prove too much for an inexperienced skipper?
Perhaps that will be best answered in a future infographic.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
