Watson was the first black general manager to win a World Series and he did so with the New York Yankees as the predecessor to Cashman.

Watson’s success also showed Major League Baseball that black men can build championship baseball teams, which likely led to Kenny Williams having an opportunity to build the Chicago White Sox into a World Series winning team in 2005.

After a quality playing career, Watson would start to make some significant history as the second black general manager in major league baseball history when he was hired by the Astros in 1993.

Winning that World Series in 1996 and becoming the first black general manager to do so is a historically underrated given baseball’s history with integration and that Bob Watson had built the first Yankees team to win the championship since 1978.

Williams became second black general manager to win the World Series following the success of Bob Watson and currently is the Executive Vice President of the Chicago White Sox.