[BostonCard]

Wow, what a crazy bio.  Also, almost sent Ruth back to Boston (the Yankees threatened to move; and was responsible, indirectly, for the Yankees building their own stadium.

To destroy one of the three teams that opposed him, Johnson persuaded Stoneham to evict the Yankees. This would give Johnson an excuse to force Yankees' owners Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston to sell the Yankees to a more pliable owner; Johnson even went as far as to promise Stoneham that he could choose Ruppert and Huston's replacement. The move backfired when Ruppert and Huston announced that if Stoneham evicted the Yankees from the Polo Grounds, the Yankees would move to Boston's Fenway Park as tenants of the Red Sox. They would have been well within their rights to do so, since Red Sox owner Harry Frazee had pledged Fenway Park as collateral for a loan from Ruppert. Stoneham realized that if the Yankees left town, he'd lose revenue from a valuable tenant. He also didn't want to be held responsible for forcing Ruth, the biggest star in the game, out of town. With these factors in mind, he renewed the Yankees' lease for one more year. The incident led the Yankees to construct their own park, Yankee Stadium, to ensure that no other team would have the power to deny them a place to play.

BC

[BostonCard]

Wow, what a crazy bio.  Also, almost sent Ruth back to Boston (the Yankees threatened to move; and was responsible, indirectly, for the Yankees building their own stadium.

To destroy one of the three teams that opposed him, Johnson persuaded Stoneham to evict the Yankees. This would give Johnson an excuse to force Yankees' owners Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston to sell the Yankees to a more pliable owner; Johnson even went as far as to promise Stoneham that he could choose Ruppert and Huston's replacement. The move backfired when Ruppert and Huston announced that if Stoneham evicted the Yankees from the Polo Grounds, the Yankees would move to Boston's Fenway Park as tenants of the Red Sox. They would have been well within their rights to do so, since Red Sox owner Harry Frazee had pledged Fenway Park as collateral for a loan from Ruppert. Stoneham realized that if the Yankees left town, he'd lose revenue from a valuable tenant. He also didn't want to be held responsible for forcing Ruth, the biggest star in the game, out of town. With these factors in mind, he renewed the Yankees' lease for one more year. The incident led the Yankees to construct their own park, Yankee Stadium, to ensure that no other team would have the power to deny them a place to play.

BC