NEW YORK -- Frank Cashen, the general manager who wore a signature bow tie and fashioned a New York Mets team that rollicked its way to the 1986 World Series championship, died Monday. Austin Pruitt Jersey . The team said he was 88. He died at Memorial Hospital in Easton, Maryland, after a short illness, the Mets said. Cashen was a longtime sports writer in his Baltimore hometown and went to law school before joining the Orioles and eventually becoming their GM. The Orioles won two titles while Cashen worked for them, but it was in New York where he put his stamp on a franchise with the likes of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. Hired in 1980, Cashen transformed a last-place team into an outfit that became the most dominant force in baseball. Those Mets were brash and full of swagger, not at all like the personality of the man who built the club. Cashen made the trades that brought star first baseman Keith Hernandez and future Hall of Famer Gary Carter to the Mets, and oversaw the draft picks of Gooden and Strawberry. "Frank was our leader," Strawberry said in a statement. "I always admired the way he put together our team. He mixed young guys, like me and Doc, with guys like Carter and Hernandez. He was able to find the perfect blend to build a championship." Cashen also hired his former second baseman in Baltimore, Davey Johnson, to be the Mets manager. By the 1986, the Mets were ready to take over. They powered their way to 108 victories, won a tough playoff series with Houston and then rallied past Boston to win the World Series in seven games. "Frank was willing to take a chance and jump me from A-ball to the majors. That always meant a lot to me," Gooden said in a statement. "Also, he helped get me my No. 16. Lee Mazzilli had it before and Frank went to bat for me and said, If thats the number Doc wants, let him have it." Hernandez is now a broadcaster for the Mets. He was already a star first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals when Cashen acquired him in June 1983 in a one-sided deal, getting him for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. Before the Mets played at Atlanta on Monday night, Hernandez fondly remembered Cashen. "He was a man of integrity and honestly, and that was most important. He told you the truth," Hernandez said. "It was a day when the general managers didnt pal around with the players. We hardly ever saw him, but there was a relationship there. He was just a wonderful man." After winning the championship, however, the Mets werent able to sustain that peak performance. In the following years and Cashen traded away Lenny Dykstra, Ron Darling, Roger McDowell and other popular players. Cashen left the Mets after a fifth-place finish in 1991. He remained close to the team and was briefly the interim GM several years later. "Frank Cashen revitalized our franchise when he took over," Mets chairman Fred Wilpon said in a statement. "I dealt with Frank on a daily basis and he was a man of integrity and great passion." "No one had a more diverse career than Frank. He was also a lawyer, sports writer and marketing executive. His accomplishments will always be an integral part of our team history," he said. Cashen, who also worked as an executive in Major League Baseball, was inducted into the team Hall of Fame for both the Orioles and Mets. "Frank Cashen was one of the greatest executives in our game," Commissioner Bud Selig said. "A true gentleman who had many interests, Frank had a multifaceted career in baseball and beyond. He helped construct some of the best clubs that two of our franchises - his hometown Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets - have ever had." The Orioles said Cashen served the team during its "most successful on-field era." "It was during his tenure that the Orioles acquired Frank Robinson and named Earl Weaver manager, two of the most significant moments in club history," the club said. In recent years, Cashen spent his time in Easton and in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where the Mets hold spring training. He was in camp with the Mets this year. "One of the great baseball people," Mets manager Terry Collins said Monday. Cashen is survived by wife Jean, seven children and nine grandchildren. ------ AP freelance writer Amy Jinkner-Lloyd in Atlanta contributed to this report. Peter Fairbanks Rays Jersey . RAPTORS STRUGGLING: The bottom line is the true test in sports isnt just how you handle failure, but how you handle success. Daniel Robertson Jersey . But back-up Peter Budaj has put up two wins and an overtime loss while starting three games in four nights since Price went down with a suspected groin injury. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/ . Former two-time Olympic gold medallist Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle tested positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine in both her "A" and "B" samples, the German Olympic Committee said. TORONTO -- Nazem Kadri and the Toronto Maple Leafs like to think of the first period as the most important 20 minutes of the game. That worked out well against the Philadelphia Flyers, though making the third period their worst almost didnt. The Leafs blew two leads after the second intermission but managed to rebound to beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. "It feels good," game-winning goal-scorer Joffrey Lupul said of bouncing back. "We dont want to make a habit of blowing third-period leads. Things are going to happen, other teams are going to make plays and we stuck with it. "There was a good feeling on our bench going into overtime. It seemed like everyone had their composure and were calm and we got the result we needed." The result was the Leafs second straight overtime victory but also the fourth game in five since the Olympic break that involved blowing at least one third-period lead. Toronto had a two-goal lead 3:38 into the first by virtue of goals by Jake Gardiner and Kadri, but that slipped away after Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen scored twice. Mason Raymonds go-ahead goal later in the third was then erased when Braydon Coburn beat Jonathan Bernier with plenty of traffic in front. That was the sixth time the Leafs had coughed up a lead in the final period of regulation in the past five games. Gardiner called it "a little bit of a collapse defensively," and it was hard for his teammates to disagree given this disturbing trend. "Obviously thats a little bit of a concern, but thats not something thats drawing our complete attention," Kadri said. "Obviously our D-zone could be a little tighter, but thats something weve got to work on." With 17 games left in the regular season, theres some time to go to work, but most importantly, Leafs players took out of Saturday night the satisfaction of not caving in and managing to pick up two valuable points. Toronto (34-23-8) now has 76 points, two up on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. "Thats really what we focus on: we show character to stay in games," Kadri said. "Even though its a little bit deflating at times giving up a couple goal-leads in the third period, especially late to force overtime, we stay positive and came out with the right outcome." Coach Randy Carlyle had his issues with the Leafs performance, like when he thought players stopped skating at the end of the second period and how several stayed on the ice for shifts that were too long for his liking. But he, too, took a positive out of regrouping after Coburn tied the score again at the 17:28 mark of the third. "A lot of times when the game gets away from you, your team goes and continues to spiral," Carlyle said. "Well we didnt spiral, in my mind. Maybe if I re-watch it again Ill have a different opinion, but it didnt seem like we were under siege in the third." At the start, the Leafs had the Flyers (33-24-7) under siege. The goals by Gardiner and Kadri came on Torontos first four shots against Steve Mason, who looked shaky for at least the first handful of minutes. From Coburns perspective, it wasnt just Mason, who stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced. "We had an awful start," he said. "We cant start hockey that way." While Leafs winger Troy Bodie, who helped set up Gardiners goaal as part of his two-assist night, noticed a jump from those two early goals, it put Philadelphia in a major hole that it had to climb out of the rest of the game. Brent Honeywell Jersey. "The first 10 minutes of the game, we didnt play that good and they were able to score two goals, but I think the next 50-54 minutes, we were skating and working and creating chances," said Timonen, who scored his first career goals against the Leafs in his 30th game against them. "We were a better team after that first 10 minutes." Bernier made several memorable saves among his 28 to keep the Flyers from breaking through until the third period. And Mason bounced back to stop 29 consecutive shots between Kadris goal in the first and Raymonds in the third. "He held us in there," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "I thought he did a real good job, made some big saves. Theyre a good offensive team, they make plays and he came up big." What usually makes the Leafs such a good offensive team is big contributions from James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. That top line was kept off the score sheet Saturday night, but goals from Gardiner, Lupul, Raymond and Kadri got Toronto two points and could portend good things moving forward. "I think thats what is going to be a key to our success as the season goes on," Lupul said. "As good as our first line has been, it would be asking a lot for them to sustain the pace theyve had these past 10, 15 games. Were going to have to step up and were getting opportunities. Tonight some of them went in for us." The Leafs biggest question mark going into a five-game road trip that starts Monday in Anaheim is how to stop other teams from putting the puck in the net so much, especially while leading in the third period. Lupul credited the Flyers for being a desperate opponent, while also considering it could be partially because of inexperience on the part of the Leafs. "Wed like to do a little better job defending or actually staying on the offence, but sometimes the other team is going to make some plays, too," he said. "We wouldve loved to hang on and not need overtime." It was in overtime that Lupul was able to come through as the hero, scoring on a tic-tac-toe passing play that started with Carl Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf. "We finished strong and Neuf and Lupes made a great play on the last goal," Gardiner said. Lupuls 19th goal of the season managed to at least temporarily shift this problem into the background. Or perhaps it wont become a real issue until the Leafs lose one of these games in regulation, as they improved to 24-1-2 when leading after two. "I dont think we want to keep that path going," Gardiner said. "They go both ways sometimes, and tonight we got it. NOTES -- Winger David Clarkson was scratched for the Maple Leafs after a pulled muscle from Fridays practice continued to bother him. Defenceman Paul Ranger was a healthy scratch as Frazer McLaren was called up so the Leafs could dress 12 forwards. ... The Leafs honoured 19 gold- and silver-medal-winning Canadian Olympians prior to the game, including five players from the womens hockey team. ... Steve Downie was scratched for the Flyers because of the flu. Ex-Leafs forward Jay Rosehill took his place, making his biggest impact on the game by fighting McLaren in the second period. ' ' '