August 5, 1867, 150 years ago: Jacob Ruppert Jr. is born in Manhattan. What does a New York business lord, who would have been nothing without his father's money, do when he gets bored? He runs for office and buys a sports team.
Unlike Donald Trump, this one stayed a Democrat, and ran for office first, being elected to Congress in 1898, 1900, 1902 and 1904. But, again like Trump, he had a lousy attendance record -- as did a New York business lord friend of his, William Randolph Hearst. He chose not to run again in 1906.
Eventually, he got bored with running the family brewery again, and tried to buy the New York Giants baseball team. He was told they weren't for sale, but that the New York Yankees were. So he bought them in 1915, along with an equal partner, an engineer named Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston, known as "Til" for short, or "Cap" for his U.S. Army rank in the Spanish-American War. He served again in World War I, and rose to the rank of Colonel.
Ruppert had served in the New York National Guard, but his rank was a bit dubious, probably bought. Nevertheless, he was also called "Colonel"; together, the co-owners were known as "The Colonels."
In sports, as in politics, Ruppert had a better record than Trump, once the owner of the USFL's New Jersey Generals. In 1918, he hired Miller Huggins as manager. Huston was away at war, and was angry at this hiring. Ultimately, over the issue of Huggins' managing, the Colonels split, and Ruppert bought Huston out in 1923, shortly after the opening of the original Yankee Stadium. Ruppert funded it, while Huston consulted on the design.
Ruppert began buying expensive baseball talent, especially pitching. At the time, baseball teams usually didn't have their offices at the ballpark, due to space limitations. Ruppert's Yankee office was in Times Square, as was that of theatrical producer Harry Frazee, the owner of the Boston Red Sox. Deals between them were often done quickly.
In 1920, one of those deals brought Babe Ruth to the Yankees-- just in time, because Prohibition had come, and Ruppert needed a source of income. In 1923, he built the original Yankee Stadium, bought Huston out, and signed Lou Gehrig. In 1934, he signed Joe DiMaggio.
By the time he died on January 13, 1939, at the age of 71, he had overseen 10 American League Pennants and 7 World Series wins, and built the greatest team and the greatest stadium in the history of North American sports.
In 1940, a plaque was placed on the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium. It was moved to Monument Park in 1976, and to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, so it no longer rests in what its text calls "this imposing edifice." Of the 1st 25 enshrinees in Monument Park at the new Yankee Stadium, 11 were brought to the organization by Ruppert: Ruppert himself, Huggins, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, manager Joe McCarthy, general manager Ed Barrow, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing and Phil Rizzuto.
The image for the plaque was taken
from the photograph at the top.
For some reason -- probably more an oversight as much as anything else -- it took until 2013 to elect him to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
George Steinbrenner would have liked Jacob Ruppert: They were both big, demanding German-Americans who didn't mind spending big money as long as they got big results. A sportswriter once asked Ruppert what he considered a good, relaxing afternoon at the ballpark. He said, "When the Yankees score 8 runs in the 1st inning, and then slowly pull away."
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