The Yankees and Red Sox have one of the most storied rivalries in all of sports, with decades of history between the two Major League franchises. But for one evening, front-office executives from both clubs partnered up for a joint fundraiser at NYY Steak in New York on Thursday.
Red Sox vice president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman were both in attendance for the event, "A Conversation with Baseball Rival Clubs," which benefited the New York Yankees Foundation and the Red Sox Foundation. The evening featured a Q&A session, and World Series trophies and rings were on display from New York's 2000 and '09 championships and Boston's titles in '04 and '13.
Dombrowski, who joined the Sox last fall after 13-plus seasons with the Tigers, may be new to the rivalry, but the significance of the partnership wasn't lost on him.
"I know there's a longtime rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees, everybody's aware," Dombrowski said. "But anytime you can raise money for a good cause as a charity, we're all in it together."
Although Dombrowski has been working in the American League East for just a few months, he and Cashman have a working relationship that dates back several years. The pairing negotiated several trades while Dombrowski was running the Tigers' front office, including a three-team deal in 2009 that brought Curtis Granderson to the Yanks and another as recently as '14, when New York acquired Didi Gregorius from Arizona.
"Both fan bases are obviously well invested in the history, the past and the present, but there's a huge respect factor on both sides, a lot of success on both sides," Cashman said. "We look forward to doing battle going forward."