George Rose's journey to Yankees never fails to amaze
Yankees executive George Rose (left), who died last week, poses with Derek Jeter after the Yankees swept the Padres to win the 1998 World Series. Credit: New York Yankees
Right from the jump, I should let you know that this amazing story — the one about the Irish kid from Garden City, the rugby player English major at Holy Cross who trailblazed the Yankees’ stronghold in Japan — would be so much better if George Rose were here to tell it.
Ideally, this should be Rose sitting next to you on a dugout bench giving the details of how a freshly minted college grad went to Fukushima Prefecture — the only American in a small town — to teach English to high-schoolers, learned Japanese, then improbably spun that into being the Yankees’ trusted pioneer in that baseball-crazed country, spearheading the franchise’s operations over there. Not to mention helping the Yankees land two of Japan’s biggest stars in Hideki Matsui and Masahiro Tanaka.
But Rose can’t share another laugh over the sheer incredulousness of it all — as he did, many times — because he succumbed in his courageous fight with lung cancer last Sunday, passing away at the age of 57.
A number like that is hard to shake off. It’s just not nearly enough time, not with his wife, Carrie, his teenage son Sean, his sister Kathleen and his brother Mike.
Or his extended Yankees family, a quarter-century relationship that grew from his hire as Hideki Irabu’s interpreter in 1998 to the team’s Director of Pacific Rim Operations, an all-encompassing title that only hints at Rose’s impact on that front.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been party to plenty of incredible things during his own Bronx tenure, and for the person who first brought Rose on board, few rank as high as what his colleague-turned-friend accomplished.
“I would say it’s just Exhibit A of how you have no idea where the world will take you with the winds of change,” Cashman said. “I don’t think anybody would have believed it. If you turned back time and told him that in the future, you’re going to be a prominent member of the New York Yankees organization, win World Series rings during one of the greatest times in Yankee history, traveling the globe with the likes of Derek Jeter and Matsui, then planting a flag on behalf of the Yankees on the other side of the planet, it’s just an incredible story.”
As Cashman well knows, as does anybody fortunate enough to spend time with Rose, this was a story maybe born of serendipity but built on his own character — and to use a baseball term, skill set. It was a lucky bounce that Rose himself engineered into a couple of decades’ worth of game-saving triple plays. But how else does someone go from studying for his MBA at Columbia to abruptly winding up in an interview with the Yankees’ general manager and being asked to perform a job he’d never even imagined?
Through a mutual friend, of course.
Cashman recalled how a buddy mentioned Rose to him when he heard about the Irabu gig opening up. Spoke Japanese, solid guy, good head on his shoulders. So the GM said to send in a resume.
Considering the odds in a city of eight million, it was akin to someone telling Cashman he had a pal who could play centerfield and hit cleanup. What neither one realized then was that Rose would be an impactful presence for the Yankees much longer than anyone in that current clubhouse.
“Of all the interviews, he really stood out in such a good way,” Cashman said. “He was someone that was relatable, you could connect with him, he had a great disposition. He was kind. I was like, this guy’s perfect.”
Rose almost had to be. The temperamental Irabu could be a handful, both on the mound and at his locker — clashing with the Japanese media often in Rose’s early days on the job. As is typical with Rose, however, the two became fast friends, and he was instrumental in Irabu’s interaction with teammates, too. Cashman pointed out how that often involved some late postgame jaunts for Rose, riding shotgun with Irabu, David Wells and David Cone.
“He just got baptized into the baseball universe really quick,” Cashman said. “Was easily accepted and meshed right in with those great Yankee teams. He was there to do anything he could to help. I think that’s the biggest definition of who George was — someone who would do anything to try to make things better, whether it was the job or personal life. He’s just happy to try to help.”
Because this is the major leagues, that frequently got put to the test. Rose actually wound up back in the real world for a bit after Irabu was traded to the Expos in 1999 — giving him a chance to finish his MBA while working on Wall Street — but the Yankees reached out again, this time asking if Rose would set up their new office in Japan.
In a 2008 interview with the JET alumnae newsletter, Rose described the role as “keeping his ear to the ground” for the Yankees in Asia, but that only scratched the surface of what he handled there.
Mets GM Billy Eppler was one of Cashman’s top Yankee lieutenants during that period, and a primary role for him involved scouting trips to Japan. But when Rose first set up shop over there, the team had some of its heaviest lifting to do, basically creating a comprehensive database of Japanese players. Eppler recalled this past week how one trip involved canvassing the country for 20 straight days, stopping at every NPB outpost, and it was Rose who acted as sherpa for the Yankees’ visiting personnel — an indispensable teammate navigating them through territory that was foreign in every sense of the word.
“He was my partner in crime over there,” Eppler said. “He was the guy who taught me the lay of the land. And just such a kind, gentle, warm, good person. It felt like George never had a bad day. For me to be around him, he was infectious in such a positive way.”
Rose didn’t put on pinstripes for work, but he left an enduring imprint on the franchise, which continues to benefit from the foundation he built — starting with nothing more than the Japanese he learned and an adventurous spirit. Cashman ticked off a list of things that Rose served as the point man on, everything from their acquisitions of Japanese players to the numerous sponsor ads around Yankee Stadium.
“George did it all,” Cashman said. “His life was cut short — sooner than it should have been. But what a life he lived in his 57 years. He leaves a big legacy and his family can be proud of the person he was and the difference he made.”
Not bad for a Garden City kid who went undrafted out of Holy Cross. Rose turned out to be one of the Yankees’ best free-agent signings in recent memory.
“He carved his own path,” Eppler said. “And I’m better for having known him.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
