PLAY BALL!

Wed., Apr 22

Just days after the opening of the new Yankee Stadium,  New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman (right) will join legendary ESPN sports reporter Peter Gammons for a lively discussion about "The Yankees and the Business of Baseball." The event, part of the Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture Series, will be held at Southern Connecticut State University's Lyman Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22.

Tickets are $23 for the general public, $18 for faculty, staff and active alumni, and $10 for students and children. They may be purchased at the Lyman box office: (203) 392-6154, or at http://tickets.southernct.edu.

A portion of the proceeds support Southern's Endowed Awards of Excellence, a merit-based scholarship program. 

In a franchise marked by milestones, Brian Cashman has carried on the winning tradition of the New York Yankees. In his first season (1998), he became the youngest GM to win a World Series and went on to become the only GM in baseball history to win world championships in each of his first three seasons (1998-2000). He is also only the third GM in baseball history to win at least four consecutive league championships and was the first to do it in his first four seasons (1998-2001).
Cashman is the only general manager in Major League history to guide a team to division or league titles in each of his first eight seasons from 1998-2005. During that span, the Yankees have compiled a cumulative record of 794-498 -- the best winning percentage (.615) in the Major Leagues during that period. According to Baseball America, it is also the highest lifetime winning percentage of any general manager since 1950 (minimum five seasons).

Peter Gammons (left), a highly respected Major League Baseball journalist, serves as a studio analyst on ESPN's Sports Emmy Award-winning Baseball Tonight. Gammons has served as a Major League Baseball correspondent on ESPN since 1988. He is also a contributor to Baseball America.

He began his career as a reporter for the Boston Globe in 1969 and wrote a very popular weekly Sunday baseball column for many years. He has also worked for Sports Illustrated covering the National Hockey League, college basketball and Major League Baseball (1976-78, 1986-90).

Gammons was honored as the recipient of the 2004 J.G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing during the 2005 Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y.