“The two most important events in my life…: Being born and buying the Yankees”…George Steinbrenner.
“When the Yankees aren’t playing in the World Series, it doesn’t feel like the World Series”… Marco Antonio (Musiú) De La Cavalerie.”
“I thank God for making me a Yankee”… Joe DiMaggio.
“I still believe I’m Berra, but since I came to the Yankees, the fans treat me like I’m an enchanted angel”… Yogi Berra.
In short: The Yankees franchise was initially valued at $18 in 1903. Yesterday, Forbes magazine, which specializes in the subject, reported that it is now valued at $500 billion in 2026.
George Steinbrenner, the last buyer of this team and a group of his friends, paid CBS, on January 3, 1973, eight million 800 thousand dollars for the organization.
Of course, never before in baseball had a franchise achieved such a high value.
And in terms of global ranking by quality and history, the Yankees are on par with the most famous teams in soccer, American football, and basketball.
Even before the Yankees were born, the Giants and Dodgers feared their competition in New York
The Giants in Manhattan and the Dodgers in Brooklyn hated the idea of an American League team in New York. So they pulled all the strings, and in 1901, when the new Major League Baseball was inaugurated, they managed to secure no competition in the Big Apple.
The American League opened with eight teams, and the 1901 champions were the Chicago White Stockings, who finished with a record of 83-53. They were followed by Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.
The Orioles, who finished that inaugural year with a 68-65 record in sixth place, suffered a resounding failure in 1902, when they finished last with a 50-88 record. And because very few people bought tickets to enter the stadium, they lost a lot of money.
The Yankees cost a mere $18!
Finally, New York had its own American League team. Two businessmen, Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery, acquired the Baltimore franchise for $18,000 on January 3, 1903, and moved it to Upper Manhattan, naming it the Highlanders. That was the beginning of the Yankees.
On April 18, 1923, now known as the Yankees, they inaugurated the first Yankee Stadium. The name Highlanders had been dropped because a journalist said he had trouble fitting such a long word into his headlines, and he himself called them Yankees in his newspapers, which the other newspapers followed.
And the Yankees' prices are rising.
Two colonels, Jack Rupert and Tillinghst L'Hommediew, bought the Yankees on January 11, 1915, for $450. But by May 21, 1922, Rupert had become the sole owner, because he bought out Hommediew's share for $500 million.
On January 25, 1945, three New York millionaires, Dan Topping, Del Webb and Larry McPhail, joined together to buy the club, paying two million 800 thousand dollars.
And on November 2, 1964, CBS-TV bought the "Yankees" from the three of them for 11 million, 200 thousand dollars.
The people at CBS-TV didn't know how to manage the business at Yankee Stadium; and that's when George Steinbrenner came along. On January 3, 1973, he bought it for $8.8 million.
“We are here, only to win the World Series”
Manager Casey Stengel used to repeat that phrase, because he was sure that, in baseball, if you don't win the World Series, you haven't achieved anything, since everything else is superfluous.
The Yankees have won 27 of 41 World Series; and the closest team, the Cardinals, 11 of 19.
Incidentally, the list of the most notable Yankees in history alone is impressive: Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge.
And now, on Wednesday, March 25th, they will inaugurate their 124th season… Good luck, lads!
Thanks to the life that has given me so much, even a reader like you.
