1.
American League
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The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League, is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a league based in the Great Lakes states. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season,25 years after the formation of the National League. At the end of season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2016, American League teams have won 64 of the 112 World Series played since 1903, the 2016 American League champions are the Cleveland Indians. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Originally a minor league known as the Western League, the American League later developed into a major league after the American Association disbanded, in its early history, the Western League struggled until 1894, when Ban Johnson became the president of the league. Johnson led the Western League into major league status and soon became the president of the newly renamed American League, babe Ruth, noted as one of the most prolific hitters in Major League Baseball history, spent the majority of his career in the American League. The American League has one notable difference versus the National League, in 1902, the Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis and were renamed the St. Louis Browns. In 1902, The Cleveland Bluebirds were also renamed the Cleveland Broncos, in 1903, the Broncos were renamed the Cleveland Naps. In 1915, the Naps were renamed the Cleveland Indians, in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York and were renamed the New York Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders were renamed the New York Yankees, in 1904, the Chicago White Stockings were renamed the Chicago White Sox. In 1908, the Boston Americans were renamed the Boston Red Sox, in 1954, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and were renamed as the Kansas City Athletics, in 1961, the league expanded and added two teams as the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, expanding the league to 10 teams. The original Senators team moved to Minneapolis/St, Paul in 1961 and were renamed as the Minnesota Twins. The Angels team name changed to the California Angels in 1966, then to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, expanding the league to 12 teams. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and were renamed the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1972, the Washington Senators relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners, in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays was added to the American League and at the same time, the Milwaukee Brewers were switched to the National League, leaving the American League with 14 teams
2.
Polo Grounds
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The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963. The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890 and renovated after a fire in 1911, is the one generally indicated when the Polo Grounds is referenced. It was located in Coogans Hollow and was noted for its distinctive shape, very short distances to the left and right field walls. As the name suggests, the original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876, in baseball, the original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 until 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 until 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third and fourth Polo Grounds from 1891 through 1957. The Polo Grounds was also the field of the New York Yankees from 1913 until 1922. It hosted the 1934 and 1942 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, in football, the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 to 1955. The New York Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the inaugural season of 1960 through 1963. Other sporting events held at the Polo Grounds included soccer, boxing, the last sporting event at the Polo Grounds was a football game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills on December 14,1963. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets, the Polo Grounds was demolished over a period of four months that year and a public housing complex, known as the Polo Grounds Towers, was built on the site. The original Polo Grounds stood at 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, directly across 110th Street from the northeast corner of Central Park. The venues original purpose was for the sport of polo, and its name was merely descriptive, not a formal name. For this purpose the ownership built a second diamond and grandstand at the park, dividing it into eastern and western fields for use by the Giants and Metropolitans respectively. Polo Grounds I thus hosted its first Major League Baseball games in 1883 as the stadium of two teams, the American Association Metropolitans and the National League Gothams. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island in 1886, the original Polo Grounds was used not only for Polo and professional baseball, but often for college baseball and football as well—even by teams outside New York. The earliest known surviving image of the field is an engraving of a game between Yale University and Princeton University on Decoration Day, May 30,1882. Yale and Harvard also played their traditional Thanksgiving Day game there on November 29,1883, New York City was in the process of extending its street grid into uptown Manhattan in 1889. Plans for an extended West 111th Street ran through the Polo Grounds, City workers are said to have shown up suddenly one day and begun cutting through the fence to lay out the new street
3.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
4.
Jacob Ruppert
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Jacob Ruppert, Jr. was an American brewer, businessman, National Guard colonel and United States Congressman who served for four terms representing New York from 1899 to 1907. He also owned the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball from 1915 until his death in 1939, starting out in the family brewing business, Ruppert entered the United States National Guard in 1886 at the age of 19, eventually reaching the rank of colonel. While he was the owner of the Yankees, he purchased the contract of Babe Ruth and built Yankee Stadium, reversing the franchises fortunes, Ruppert was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2013. Ruppert was born in New York City, the son of brewer Jacob Ruppert, Sr. and his wife and he was the second oldest of six children, along with Cornelia Ruppert-Franko, Anna Schalk, Frank, George and Amanda Elizabeth Lizzie Ruppert-Silleck. His grandfather Franz, a brewer from Bavaria, had emigrated to the United States in 1836 or 1842 and his mother was also of German ethnicity, and was herself the daughter of prominent brewer George Gillig. Although he was a second-generation American, to the day he died he spoke with a noticeable German accent and he grew up in the Jacob Ruppert, Sr. Jacob Jr. attended the Columbia Grammar School and he was accepted into Columbia College, but instead began working in the brewing business with his father in 1887. He started as a washer, working 12-hour days for $10 a week. Ruppert enlisted in the Seventh Regiment, National Guard of New York, in 1890, he was promoted to colonel and appointed to serve on the staff of David B. Hill, the Governor of New York, serving as aide-de-camp and he became a senior aide on the staff of Roswell P. Flower, Hills successor as governor, until 1895. Ruppert was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1898 as a member of the Democratic Party to the Fifty-sixth United States Congress, low of the Republican Party in New Yorks 15th congressional district. He was supported in his election by Richard Croker, the boss of Tammany Hall. Ruppert won reelection over Alderman Elias Goodman in 1900, Ruppert was renominated for Congress, this time running in New Yorks 16th congressional district, in 1902. Ruppert was not a candidate for reelection in 1906, and he left office in 1907, Ruppert was also president of the Astoria Silk Works and the United States Brewers Association from 1911 through 1914. In January 1914, he bought J&M Haffen Brewing Company for $700,000, intending to close the brewery down and develop the property, upon his fathers death in 1915, Ruppert inherited the Jacob Ruppert Brewing Company and became the companys president. Ruppert also owned real estate, including Pass-a-Grille Key in Florida, Ruppert, interested in baseball since his childhood, began to pursue ownership of a Major League Baseball team, and attempted to purchase the New York Giants on numerous occasions. In 1912 he was offered an opportunity to purchase the Chicago Cubs, however, Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery, owners of the New York Yankees, were looking to sell their franchise. Ruppert and Tillinghast LHommedieu Huston, a former United States Army engineer and captain, purchased the Yankees from Farrell and Devery before the 1915 season for $480,000
5.
Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston
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Tillinghast LHommedieu Huston, popularly known as Cap Huston, was co-owner of the Major League Baseball team that became the New York Yankees with Jacob Ruppert from 1915 to 1922. They had purchased the club from Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery, in 1922, Huston retired and sold his share to Ruppert for $1.50 million. He was born in Buffalo, New York in 1867, Huston was a captain in the 16th Regiment of Engineers, serving in Cuba during the Spanish–American War. In August 1917, Huston arrived in France, and became commander of 16th Regiment of Engineers in spring of 1918 with rank of Lt. Colonel, Huston died on March 29,1938, in Darien, Georgia at the age of 70. New York Yankees managers and ownership Tillinghast LHommedieu Huston at Find a Grave
6.
Bill Donovan
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William Edward Donovan, nicknamed Wild Bill, was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball. He played eighteen seasons with the Washington Senators, Brooklyn Superbas, Detroit Tigers, born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Donovan won his Wild Bill nickname while playing for Hartford in the minors. When Hartford teammate Cy Seymour was returned to the Major Leagues after throwing wildly over a fence behind home plate, Donovan received a $10 fine and a new nickname. Donovan served as the football coach at Georgetown University in 1898. Donovan made his league debut on April 22,1898. During his first three seasons, he was a seldom used reliever on Superbas teams that won consecutive National League pennants, in 1899 and 1900. Donovan moved to the American Leagues Detroit Tigers in 1903, where he would continue his pitching success alongside teammates George Mullin, Sam Crawford, appearing in three World Series, he went 1–4 with a 2.88 ERA. Donovan also became the first pitcher to lose consecutive deciding games in the World Series in 1908–09, on May 7,1906, Donovan accomplished a rare feat even for the best base stealers. He stole second base, third, and on the front end of a double steal and he also hit a triple in the same game. An arm injury ended Donovans career in 1912, Donovan was player–manager for the Yankees from 1915 to 1917 and a coach for the Tigers in 1918. He made several appearances for the Yankees and Tigers, including one final start on the last day of the 1918 season. He later served as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies for part of the 1921 season, being replaced after 44 games by Kaiser Wilhelm. In December 1923, while traveling on the 20th Century Limited train to Chicago for Major League meetings, Donovan, New Haven president George Weiss had swapped berths with Donovan and escaped with a minor injury. Phillies owner William F. Baker was also on the train, in 378 career games, Donovan had a 186–139 won–loss total and threw 2964⅔ innings with 289 complete games and a 2.69 ERA
