ZELIENOPLE — While baseball is in its twilight days, a former Major League Baseball general manager got up at the crack of dawn to share his stories with Rotary Club members.

Jack Zduriencik, former general manager for the Seattle Mariners, spoke at the Zelienople Rotary Club’s meeting Friday morning about his life in MLB.

“The work that Rotary does is worthwhile,” said Zduriencik, a New Castle native.

He now lives in Mars.

Before his time with the Mariners, he worked in various positions for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers. For the Pirates, he was the director of scouting from 1991 to 1993.

He became general manager for the Mariners in 2008. He shared his story about signing World Series-winning second baseman Robinson Canó.

“He (Canó) fired his agent and hired Roc Nation, which is Jay-Z,” Zduriencik said. “We set up a meeting for Robinson and Jay-Z. They came in three limousines.”

The Mariners staff found out the meeting day was on Jay-Z’s birthday and had a cake made for him. A video featuring Canó’s success hitting at Safeco Field to a Jay-Z song was played for both visitors. Custom jerseys were also made for them.

“They thought it was the coolest thing in the world,” Zduriencik said of the visit.

The Mariners signed Canó for a 10-year, $240 million deal. Canó still plays for the team.

However after subpar losing seasons, Zduriencik was fired from the team in August 2015.

He said what people can learn from his story is that “people are people.”

“Regardless of what status a person is in life, they’re just like anyone else,” he said. “For the most part, they (professional athletes) have the same things all of us have here.”