The late Gene “Stick” Michael had a modest playing career that spanned from 1966 to 1975 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. Michael’s last days of a player were with the Boston Red Sox in 1976, but was never used and released in May of that season. Upon retiring as a player, Michael joined the New York Yankees coaching staff, where he especially excelled as a scout. Reggie Jackson gave credit to Michael’s scouting reports that enabled him to belt three home runs against the Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. Michael would serve as manager of the Yankees from 1981-82 and as general manager from 1980-81 and 1991-1995 where he was responsible for the drafting of and signings of players like Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada that formed the famed “Core Four” group that led the Yankees to four World Series titles in five seasons.

Following the tragic death of Thurman Munson in 1979, Gene Locklear, a former Yankee player and teammate of Munson, became a commercial artist after retiring from baseball. Locklear came up with the design for this offered painting that hung in the office of Gene Michael when he took over the general manager role in 1980. This painting, which is framed to a 32.5 x 32.5-inch dimension, shows Munson in seven different baseball modes in the sky while a boy is laying on the gras reading a book. Locklear’s painted signature is in gold on the bottom left corner. This painting has been framed and was part of the Gene Michael collection.

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