Spring Training Will Not Be the Same
(MLB.com) TAMPA, Fla. — Longtime Yankees head athletic trainer Gene Monahan has developed a “significant illness” and will miss his first Spring Training in 48 years due to illness, the club announced on Sunday. The Yankees said that Monahan could also miss the first portion of the 2010 season. Prior to this year, Monahan had worked 47 consecutive springs with the team, dating back to 1963. The New York Post was the first to report Monahan’s illness on Saturday. The Yankees said that Monahan will remain in New York to receive extensive treatment, which will take place over the next several weeks.
I remember a couple of months ago watching the Bucky Dent game from ’78 on “Yankee Classics.” The pitch before his lengendary home run, Dent fouled the pitch right off his shin. Out came the trainer, and what do you know, it was Gene Monahan! I was thinking “WOW!” This dude has been here for that long? How many injuries has this guy seen? Let’s all hope for a fast recovery for Gene so he can get back to the dugout, where he belongs. When Gene’s days are done with the Yanks, the guy definitely deserves some sort of remembrance, maybe even a plaque out in Monument Park. Throughout all these outstanding Yankee memories, Gene has been there and has witnessed every single moment.
5 BOROUGH SPORTS 
February 15, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I agree, and not to overstate it but when you look over at the Mets and the mess they’ve been going through with their injuries and the subsequent treatment (Reyes and Beltran come to mind) I begin to appreciate the importance of an experienced trainer. He is familiar with the injuries associated with the game and is often the first to treat the injury when it occurs – when the extent of the injury can be assessed and possibly contained. If, as they say, “the road to the championship runs through the trainer’s room” then how important was Gene Monahan to those many Yankee championships.