Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The most amusing part of this Broad- Street-to-Bronx tale is that Gerry Cardinale isn’t what you would call a baseball man.

“No baseball background,” the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker said over the telephone the other day from his office on Broad Street -- the one in lower Manhattan, not the one made famous by Philadelphia’s roughhouse and gap-toothed hockey team, the Flyers.

In college Cardinale fancied rowing over runs batted in. He competed at Harvard and Oxford, on the Charles and Thames, which are to rowing what Yankee Stadium is to baseball.

Cardinale says he has none of the bona fides that would qualify him to offer hitting advice to a little leaguer, let alone a Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player.

That didn’t stop him from suggesting to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez that he experiment with a different tactic in the batter’s box. Think singles, he said, not home runs.

“I did it in the context of a larger meaning,” Cardinale said, explaining that sometimes, in the right spot, a base on balls can mean just as much as a ball over the fence.

Yankees fans should be thankful that Cardinale took the initiative. And that A-Rod has grown up enough to listen. Heck, the Steinbrenner family ought to give serious consideration to awarding Cardinale a World Series ring should the Yankees reach four wins before the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Yankees, after all, might not be in the World Series without A-Rod, who at long last managed to end the notion that his magic wand of a baseball bat is a no-show when the games matter most.

Another Uniform

Furthermore, A-Rod might be wearing another uniform if not for Cardinale, who helped the team and slugger resolve their philosophical and contractual differences in 2007.

Back then A-Rod had just opted out of his contract with the Yankees. It didn’t help that news of his decision broke during the World Series, adding fuel to the widely held view that A- Rod fancied himself bigger than the game itself.

Yankees ownership was adamant that A-Rod’s days with the Yankees were done. If he didn’t want to be a Yankee, they didn’t want him. Nothing to discuss.

A-Rod eventually reached out to billionaire and sports fan Warren Buffett. The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. recommended that A-Rod cut through the clutter by eliminating the middle man, in this case agent Scott Boras, and communicate with the Yankees directly.

A-Rod, through a friend at Goldman, was introduced to Cardinale, who had helped the Yankees create the YES Network. Acting as a go-between, Cardinale conveyed A-Rod’s wishes to team President Randy Levine. A-Rod made it clear he wanted to stay in pinstripes. The Yankees made it clear they wanted A-Rod to stay.

Making History

The rest is history.

“You think in your own little way you played a little bit of a role,” Cardinale says, emphasizing that all the credit belongs to Yankees controlling owner Hal Steinbrenner, Levine and A-Rod himself.

He’s too modest.

You don’t have to hang around the Yankees clubhouse for long before someone in the organization mentions the Yankee way. Professionalism. Teamwork. Togetherness. Selflessness. Those sorts of things.

Well, there’s a Goldman way, too, one that limits individual stardom for the good of the firm. No rock stars, as Cardinale put it. “When you plug yourself into the Goldman Sachs system you’ve got to be part of the team,” he says. “It only works well if you can do it in a team way.”

Scouting Report

A-Rod and Cardinale have since become friends, sharing meals and exchanging e-mails.

Cardinale even asked a friend in Hollywood for the lowdown on Kate Hudson when A-Rod began dating the actress.

The scouting report on Hudson was hard-working, which is perfect for A-Rod, who, more than anything, respects accomplishment. That’s why he sought out Buffett years ago. It also explains why A-Rod spends much of the offseason quizzing Cardinale about investments and EBITDA, not ERA.

“Alex has aspirations on so many different levels,” Cardinale says. “He wants to make an impact beyond baseball.”

If anyone understands what’s at stake for A-Rod it’s basketball hall-of-famer Charles Barkley, who, individual accomplishments aside, never won a championship ring. He still hears about it. A lot.

“But for winning, he can’t win,” is Barkley’s take on A- Rod.

If the Yankees do win, if floats carry A-Rod and his teammates through the Canyon of Heroes, there will be no shortage of people deserving of pats on the back. Like the Steinbrenners, for compromising. Levine for negotiating. General Manager Brian Cashman for building. Joe Girardi for managing.

Just don’t forget that none of it happens if the money man doesn’t play matchmaker.

(Scott Soshnick is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

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To contact the writer of this column: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 28, 2009 21:00 EDT