Brian Cashman, Yankees GM, Drops 300 Feet and Lives to Tell About It

After his New York Yankees failed to repeat as World Series champs in 2010, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman started looking for a tall building to jump off of.

No, Cashman wasn't suicidal, although losing the American League Championship Series to the Texas Rangers did sting quite a bit. But six weeks after the Yankees' post-season ended early, Cashman indeed found the tall building he was searching for -- and Friday, he jumped off it, dropping 300 feet to the ground.

It wasn't the same kind of freefall that the Yankees had against the Rangers in the ALCS. Rather, it was an adrenaline rush that Cashman had looked forward to for quite some time.

It was a year ago that Cashman, fresh off the Yanks' World Series win over Philadelphia, watched in awe as a number of people rappelled down the side of the Landmark Square Building in Stamford, Conn., part of the festivities of Stamford's Heights and Lights holiday event.

"I said 'That looks awesome. I'd do that,'" Cashman said at the time to event organizers. "And then Lynn, who runs the event, was like, 'We'll have you up there if you're really serious.' And then about a month ago, she called me and said, 'Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? Are you really in.' I said I'd do it if they train me, so they trained me."



Friday morning, in cold and blustery conditions, Cashman took his long-anticipated leap of fate, powering himself 22 stories down the side of the building, but with an instructor close by in case he ran into problems. Fortunately, the episode went off with only a few minor glitches, even though he admits he was shaking in his boots from more than just the frigid temperatures.

"Yeah, a little," he said when asked if he was scared. "Did I look scared? It was pretty incredible, the greatest opportunity of a lifetime."

One of the keys was not to look down, Cashman said, as he scaled downward.

"Nope. I looked down on the roof," before climbing over the ledge, Cashman said. "I did not look down when I went over. I decided the first trip I was going down, I was just going to look at the wall. They say I'll get used to it, but I don't think I will. I trust these guys (his instructors), they know what they're doing."

Dressed in a fleece-lined coat, gray Georgetown Prep sweatshirt, jeans and climbing boots and wearing a rock star-like bandana in his hair, Cashman did have a couple of episodes during his climb down where he got tangled up or turned around and needed assistance from his trainer to get back on track.

"I had (a death grip) on the rope," Cashman said. "Believe me, I can feel my muscles. (His instructor) said, 'Let go of the rope, let go of the rope.' I said, 'No, I'm not letting go of the rope.'

"(Being in a harnass) it's uncomfortable. They're saying to let go, you're harnessed, but you mentally just don't want to trust that. Reality doesn't want to fit what your mind's telling it."

After his first attempt Friday, Cashman, an amateur climber who typically trains on a 37-foot rock wall in New York, had four more practice runs later in the day. And just before he jets off to the MLB Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., he'll descend the building again on Sunday wearing a green elf's costume, with Santa Claus by his side, when he'll serve as a "celebrity guest elf" just in time for the city's Christmas Tree lighting.

"I'm not sure what it was going to be like, to be honest, but I'm glad I at least made it," Cashman said. "I'm excited, I'm happy. If they say we're going to do a whole bunch of different runs, I'm not sure if I want to do a whole bunch of runs. But I'm excited just to be able to feel like I've done something that most people in the world have never done, so that's kinda cool. ... It's called living."