Cashman taking elf role seriously

 Brian Cashman received a call late Tuesday morning giving him an out if he wanted it.
“I told him, you can still back out,” Stamford Downtown Special Services District president Sandy Goldstein said from her office Tuesday afternoon. “He said, ‘Sandy nothing is scarier than general managing the Yankees.’”

And so, Cashman will rappel off the 22-story Landmark Building in Stamford, Conn., this weekend as part of Stamford’s annual Heights and Lights event that officially kicks off the city’s holiday season.

Oh, and the GM will be dressed as an elf, too.

“I’ve been leaving milk and cookies for Santa for some time now, but this year I wanted to take a more active role in assisting him," Cashman said in a statement Tuesday night. "As an elf, you have to be willing to build toys, wrap presents, prepare reindeer for flight, or rappel off buildings for Santa. I take my role as an elf seriously because there are a lot of children out there counting on him.”

Goldstein said Cashman attended last year’s event with his family and in a conversation afterward expressed an interest in participating in 2010. Cashman, who lives in nearby Darien and went through rappel training this past weekend, will be part of a rehearsal Friday morning. The actual event takes place Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Cashman will later head to Orlando for the Winter Meetings, which begin Monday.

Goldstein said she and her staff were a bit disbelieving when Cashman announced his intentions last winter.

“We said, oh c’mon, no one in their right mind wants to rappel off a 22-story building,” she said.

But she saw Cashman at an event over the summer and he, unprompted, brought up his intention to be involved in this winter’s Heights and Lights.

“It takes a tremendous amount of inner fortitude to decide to do this,” Goldstein said. “It’s not for the faint of heart.”

Said Cashman: “I’m a Stamford guy, and it’s an honor to participate in such a special Holiday family event for the community. ‘Heights and Lights’ is designed to draw the people of Stamford and its surrounding neighborhoods together, drum up interest in its downtown businesses and celebrate the holiday season."