Episode 26: Episode 26: Mike "Kash" Kashirsky

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Mike Kashirsky. “Kash” is currently a batting practice pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and a college basketball official. However, I feel like this audience will be more in tune with his time coaching the Windy City Thunderbolts (https://www.wcthunderbolts.com) of the independent Frontier League (https://frontierleague.com).
“Kash” played college baseball at St. Joseph College in the late 1990’s. St. Joe’s was a great D-II program based in the Great Lakes Valley Conference until the school closed in 2017. The Pumas were national runners-up in 1996 behind the arm of pitcher Rick O’Dette (https://saintleolions.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/rick-o-dette/118).
Kash talks about some of his teammates including O’Dette who would later become the head coach and is now the skipper at St. Leo University, and Jason Becker who coached with Kash at Roosevelt University.
The late Brandon Hardy was also on those teams and Kash tells a great story about Brandon and how St. Joe’s created the Brandon Hardy Award.
Kash played some professional baseball including a stint with the Cook County Cheetahs of the independent Frontier League. His initial meeting with his manager, former big league outfielder Ron LeFlore, (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lefloro01.shtml) was a memorable one.
LeFlore was arrested in 1999 for failure to pay child support by Kash’s father who was a police officer. LeFlore understood the situation and didn’t hold a grudge but he didn’t forget that interaction. When Kash reported to the team one year after the arrest LeFlore call him into his office. LeFlore joking told Kash to take his stuff and leave but after the initial shock told Kash he was kidding and explained he and Kash’s father had become friendly after the arrest.
The Cheetahs rebrand to the Windy City Thunderbolts (https://twitter.com/WCThunderBolts) and in 2004 Kash is named to the coaching staff. He reminisces fondly about his rommates and fellow staff member Joe Charboneau (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/charbjo01.shtml). Charboneau was quite a character who was the 1980 American League Rookie of the Year for the Cleveland Indians.
Brent Bowers managed the team in 2005 and 2006 and Will Flynt was the pitching coach and Kash tells great stories about both of his friends that he is on the T-Bolts staff with during his early years with the team.
Andy Haines becomes the manager in Windy City in 2007 and the team has one of the best seasons in Frontier League history. That team won a Frontier League (https://twitter.com/FLProBaseball) record 68 games on its was to the championship.
Kash beomes the interim manager during the 2008 campaign and takes a struggling team on quite a ride. The team goes on a 37-14 to end the regular season with 60 wins and another Western Division title.
Kash looks back on that memorable 2008 Frontier League playoffs starting with winning a tough division round win over the favored Southern Illinois Miners.
The 2008 championship series will be most remember for the flood that happened in Kalamazoo just before the start of the series. Four inches on water deemed Homer Stryker Field as being unplayable and the entire series was moved to Standard Bank Ballpark which was called the Thunder Dome.
Kash talks about working as a bench coach in 2009 with Tommy Thompson and finally becoming the full time manager for the 2010 and 2011 season. Kash left Windy City as the all-time leader in wins (141), since broken by Ron Biga, and his jersey number is retired at the ballpark.
In 2013, Kash is hired by the Chicago White Sox as the left handed batting practice pitcher. Kash talks about being in the big leagues and working with some of the best hitters in the game.
We also talk about three players that Brady has worked with in the past Adam Eaton (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/eatonad02.shtml), Charlie Leesman (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leesmch01.shtml) and Nate Jones (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesna01.shtml) who all played for the Cincinnati Steam (https://twitter.com/CincinnatiSteam) of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (https://twitter.com/GLSCL).
We finish up the conversation talking about being a college basketball official. His start as a referee is a humble one on the high school level working his way to small college and now mid major college level.
Former St. Joe’s pitching coach Bo Boroski, who has referred Big Ten games and in the NCAA tournament, helped break Kash into the business doing high school games in the Rensaleer, Indiana area.
Kash is a very engaging and funny guy and his success has clearly not changed him a bit over the years.
Photo credits goes to NPG Sports and Synergy Sports
You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe
Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm)
For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to [email protected]
Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Mike Kashirsky. “Kash” is currently a batting practice pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and a college basketball official. However, I feel like this audience will be more in tune with his time coaching the Windy City Thunderbolts of the independent Frontier League.

“Kash” played college baseball at St. Joseph College in the late 1990’s. St. Joe’s was a great D-II program based in the Great Lakes Valley Conference until the school closed in 2017. The Pumas were national runners-up in 1996 behind the arm of pitcher Rick O’Dette.

Kash talks about some of his teammates including O’Dette who would later become the head coach and is now the skipper at St. Leo University, and Jason Becker who coached with Kash at Roosevelt University.

The late Brandon Hardy was also on those teams and Kash tells a great story about Brandon and how St. Joe’s created the Brandon Hardy Award.

Kash played some professional baseball including a stint with the Cook County Cheetahs of the independent Frontier League. His initial meeting with his manager, former big league outfielder Ron LeFlore, was a memorable one.

LeFlore was arrested in 1999 for failure to pay child support by Kash’s father who was a police officer. LeFlore understood the situation and didn’t hold a grudge but he didn’t forget that interaction. When Kash reported to the team one year after the arrest LeFlore call him into his office. LeFlore joking told Kash to take his stuff and leave but after the initial shock told Kash he was kidding and explained he and Kash’s father had become friendly after the arrest.

The Cheetahs rebrand to the Windy City Thunderbolts and in 2004 Kash is named to the coaching staff. He reminisces fondly about his rommates and fellow staff member Joe Charboneau. Charboneau was quite a character who was the 1980 American League Rookie of the Year for the Cleveland Indians.

Brent Bowers managed the team in 2005 and 2006 and Will Flynt was the pitching coach and Kash tells great stories about both of his friends that he is on the T-Bolts staff with during his early years with the team.

Andy Haines becomes the manager in Windy City in 2007 and the team has one of the best seasons in Frontier League history. That team won a Frontier League record 68 games on its was to the championship.

Kash beomes the interim manager during the 2008 campaign and takes a struggling team on quite a ride. The team goes on a 37-14 to end the regular season with 60 wins and another Western Division title.

Kash looks back on that memorable 2008 Frontier League playoffs starting with winning a tough division round win over the favored Southern Illinois Miners.

The 2008 championship series will be most remember for the flood that happened in Kalamazoo just before the start of the series. Four inches on water deemed Homer Stryker Field as being unplayable and the entire series was moved to Standard Bank Ballpark which was called the Thunder Dome.

Kash talks about working as a bench coach in 2009 with Tommy Thompson and finally becoming the full time manager for the 2010 and 2011 season. Kash left Windy City as the all-time leader in wins (141), since broken by Ron Biga, and his jersey number is retired at the ballpark.

In 2013, Kash is hired by the Chicago White Sox as the left handed batting practice pitcher. Kash talks about being in the big leagues and working with some of the best hitters in the game.

We also talk about three players that Brady has worked with in the past Adam Eaton, Charlie Leesman and Nate Jones who all played for the Cincinnati Steam of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.

We finish up the conversation talking about being a college basketball official. His start as a referee is a humble one on the high school level working his way to small college and now mid major college level.

Former St. Joe’s pitching coach Bo Boroski, who has referred Big Ten games and in the NCAA tournament, helped break Kash into the business doing high school games in the Rensaleer, Indiana area.

Kash is a very engaging and funny guy and his success has clearly not changed him a bit over the years.

Photo credits goes to NPG Sports and Synergy Sports

You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm

For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected]

Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com