Longtime Yankees trainer to retire at season's end
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By Larry Fine
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Longtime New York Yankees trainer Gene Monahan, who tended generations of players from Bobby Murcer to Derek Jeter, said on Wednesday he was retiring at the end of the season after nearly 50 years with the club.
Monahan, who missed part of the 2010 Major League Baseball season while undergoing treatment for throat and neck cancer, said the illness "was a wake-up call," and that he had decided it was time to own a dog, a house and maybe a pick-up truck.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's been a wonderful ride," Monahan, 66, told reporters before New York's game against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium.
Monahan joined the Yankees in 1962 during his senior year of high school, serving as a bat boy and clubhouse attendant during spring training.
Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the team, issued a statement about Monahan, a fixture in the Yankees dugout and clubhouse.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Gene Monahan embodies all the very best virtues that this organization strives to uphold," Steinbrenner said, calling him "a bedrock within this franchise."
"Gene has made a lifetime's worth of sacrifices and contributions in order to best serve the Yankees, and our entire organization will always be grateful."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)