“On behalf of all of us at the Mets, we extend our deepest condolences to Jean Cashen and her entire family. Frank Cashen revitalized our franchise when he took over in 1980 as general manager and helped engineer us to a world championship in 1986.
“I dealt with Frank on a daily basis and he was a man of integrity and great passion. No one had a more diverse career than Frank. He was also a lawyer, sports writer and marketing executive. His accomplishments will always be an integral part of our team history.”
Among Cashen’s key moves in building the Met teams of the mid-to-late 80s: acquiring Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals, trading for Gary Carter and helping build a farm system that produced a number of great talents like Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry.
Cashen’s legacy is not just with the Mets, however. As Wilpon’s statement noted, he was a lawyer and a well-respected sports writer before getting into baseball. He leveraged a job with a Baltimore brewer into one with the Orioles when the brewer, National Brewing Company, bought the team. Cashen and his general manager, Harry Dalton, engineered the Frank Robinson trade, hied Earl Weaver and laid the groundwork that brought the Orioles championships in 1966 and 1970 and won pennants in 1969 and 1970 as well. After some time out of baseball, he joined MLB’s offices under Bowie Kuhn before moving on to the Mets.
