Q&A: Cash dishes on 757 wins with Rays

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ST. PETERSBURG -- There was still shaving cream in his ears as a soaking-wet Kevin Cash sat down to speak after the Rays’ 3-1 win over the Mets on Saturday night at Tropicana Field.

The Rays understood what that victory represented for their manager, so they showered him with Gatorade on the field, followed by beer, champagne, shaving cream and baby powder in the clubhouse.

It was a moment to celebrate Cash as he became the winningest manager in franchise history. His 755th win pushed him past Joe Maddon (754-705) atop Tampa Bay’s all-time wins leaderboard. Cash (now 757-635) also holds the club’s highest managerial winning percentage (.544).

Before reaching that milestone, the two-time American League Manager of the Year sat down with MLB.com for a Q&A touching on his 10 years at the helm.

MLB.com: What do you remember about your first win as manager? (Note: It was a 2-0 victory against the Orioles in the third game of the 2015 season at Tropicana Field.)

Cash: Being relieved. Being really relieved. We started the season here against Baltimore, a good Baltimore team. They had some really good players. Buck Showalter managed, and I told Buck when we met at home plate for Opening Day, I said, "It's an honor to be doing this. It's a pretty special honor to be going against you early on," and I do cherish the first win coming against a team and a manager that was represented so well.

MLB.com: Doing it for 10 years now, where do you feel like you’ve grown the most as a manager? And how has the job changed the most?

Cash: I think the job always changes, because the players change and there's different personnel. Grown the most -- you pride yourself on staying consistent. I'd like to think I continue to do that. Maybe a little more patience with respecting how hard the game is. I think at first, I knew it was hard, but it's really hard -- and it's only getting harder.

MLB.com: What does this record mean to you, especially given the team’s history with Joe Maddon?

Cash: A lot of thoughts. It's an honor to be able to do it for this organization and work for the people: [principal owner Stuart Sternberg], [team presidents] Matt [Silverman] and Brian [Auld], [president of baseball operations] Erik Neander -- and other people like Chaim [Bloom, the former Rays executive] who were a big part of my hiring and stuff -- to get to do it with them. And then I think Joe and Evan Longoria are probably the two biggest faces in uniform for the franchise. To be able to be tied with Joe would be quite an honor. The opportunity to go one more win beyond that? Pretty humbling.

MLB.com: Speaking of Longo, who were the players early on in your tenure who kind of helped you settle in?

Cash: I mean, Longo was first and foremost. He could have been a complete jerk, and he wasn't. We were doing some kind of quirky stuff at the time that everybody was second-guessing. I think Longo knew, like, "He's probably going to be better if I put my arm around him and help him rather than just make his life hell." So, he stood out quite a bit. ... I think the patience of a veteran group in general, they really could have made it difficult, and they didn't. And I very much appreciated it.

MLB.com: Is it hard to believe you’re the longest-tenured manager in baseball with your current team?

Cash: Yeah, that's pretty hard to believe. … No, it does not feel that way. I get it, longest-tenured, but it's tough to really get that involved in that when Bob Melvin is managing. Tito [Terry Francona] stopped managing yesterday. Bruce Bochy is managing again. Those guys, what their careers are is just amazing.

MLB.com: As a Tampa native, what’s the best part about managing your hometown team?

Cash: These jobs can really disrupt a family. To be able to say that I'm coming home, and I get to be at the home ballpark, but also live at home where my kids are being raised and going to school, that's a nice thing. There's a sense of pride to be able to grow up here, play Little League Baseball, play high school baseball, local college [at Florida State University], and you meet a lot of people, a lot of friends and family. My support system, I would argue, is as good as any manager in baseball, given that I get to do it at home.

MLB.com: I think I know where you’d go for your favorite overall win here, but is there one of these 750-plus regular-season wins that stands out?

Cash: [Clinching a postseason spot in 2019 in] Toronto was pretty cool. We had just come off 90 wins. That's probably right at the top, like, "All right, we're in." It was a lot of fun. It was cool how it worked out. We kind of asked ourselves at the beginning of the season, "Are we good enough to do this?" Because these other teams have been doing it, and they're fairly consistent. When you win, it's pretty rewarding.