Frank Cashen's enjoyable autobiography rife with insider Orioles memories

The last time I saw J. Frank Cashen, the longtime Orioles executive who was an architect of the team's powerhouse clubs from the 1960s and 1970s, was in August 2012 at the annual Orioles Hall of Fame luncheon. I rode an elevator with Cashen, then 86, who reveled in being surrounded by Baltimore baseball fans and Hall of Famers from the club.

"Isn't this a fantastic day?" a smiling, ruddy-faced Cashen said when I shook his hand upon being introduced to a man who qualifies as Baltimore baseball royalty as much as the guys we revere on a first-name basis: Brooks, Frank and Cal. He loved being immersed in Orioles history and baseball, and the feeling was quite mutual.

Cashen was renowned for two things - his ubiquitous bowtie (a leftover from his Charm City newspapering days when longer-length neckties ran the risk of becoming ink-stained throwaways on the composition room floor) and the meticulous way he crafted both winning ballclubs and organizational loyalty as a leader of both the Orioles and Mets.

His autobiography, "Winning in Both Leagues: Reflections from Baseball's Front Office," published a few months after his death in June at 88, gives an insider's account of how the Orioles became a powerhouse and how Cashen's carefully crafted plan created a similar resurgence when he took over the Mets, replicating his success in Baltimore through shrewd drafting, a focus on player development, bold managerial hires and beneficial trades.

Cashen was through-and-through Baltimore when he joined the Orioles in 1965 as an executive vice president. He had grown up in Baltimore, played second base and graduated from Loyola College, carved out a career as a sportswriter at the News American, studied law at nights and earned his law degree and worked as a publicity director at a harness track before becoming an executive at the National Brewing Co.

When the Jerry Hoffberger-owned brewery purchased the Orioles in 1965, Cashen joined the ballclub's front office, starting a baseball career that would span more than a quarter of a century and take him to the general manager's seat in Baltimore. Along the way he was involved in the trade that brought Frank Robinson to Baltimore, where he changed the face of the Orioles (Cashen was originally against the deal with the Reds); watched as the O's swept the Dodgers in 1966; saw Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver given his first major league job in 1968; withstood the 1969 World Series loss to the Mets; rebounded to beat the Reds in the 1970 Fall Classic and lose the 1971 World Series to the Pirates; decided to trade Frank Robinson after the 1971 campaign; and was mentioned as a possible commissioner candidate when Bowie Kuhn ran afoul of baseball owners in the mid-1970s.

Cashen worked in the commissioner's office for a while before joining the Mets as GM, where he used some of the same methods that worked in Baltimore - starting with a legal pad where he kept both his rules for success and his plans for the ballclub for a period of three years out - to turn the Mets into a World Series champion in 1986. There were plenty of Baltimore connections to the Mets' success, not the least of which was Davey Johnson, in his first major league managerial gig after apprenticing on the Mets farm.

Like any good biography, there are plenty of behind-the-scenes tidbits, some being told for the first time, others being recounted for posterity. When he was flown to Baltimore in December 1965 to meet the Orioles brass, Robinson had dinner with them at the Belvedere Hotel, where he was told that the same rules applied to everyone on the Orioles. Robinson didn't sound sure and cautioned then-general manager Harry Dalton that he'd better not be lying to him. Cashen remembers sparring with first baseman Boog Powell over his weight and how he learned to negotiate player contracts when the game's financial landscape was quickly changing.

Even the memories of his days at the Mets helm are rife with Orioles connections, from Johnson's early forays into baseball analytics being tossed into a trashcan by an unbelieving Earl Weaver and what made the former Orioles second baseman an attractive managerial candidate to being accosted on a subway train or on the streets of New York when he traded fan favorite (and future O's skipper) Lee Mazzilli.

I'll readily admit I'm a sucker for sports biographies. As a youngster, I learned about how Brooks Robinson almost ended his career by impaling his bicep on a jutting piece of metal while making a grab of a foul ball, how a young Roberto Clemente honed his skills on dirt diamonds in his native Puerto Rico, how Jackie Robinson battled prejudice and racism while breaking baseball's color barrier. There's something magical, however, about a well-crafted autobiography, one that strikes a balance between well-spun stories and behind-the-scenes nuggets. Whether you've heard the stories before, or whether some of the information is totally new, Cashen's is a good read. I particularly liked his recollection of how draft-style dispersement of his collection of world championship rings to his very lucky children.

It's clear that what he learned as Hoffberger's right-hand man in both the beer and baseball businesses served Cashen well. And it's unfortunate that such a good - and good-natured - baseball man didn't live to see fans and readers enjoy his collection of memories from a life well-lived.