Home » Sport » William Stephen Devery: The Forgotten Father of the New York Yankees

William Stephen Devery: The Forgotten Father of the New York Yankees

William Stephen Devery (WIKIPEDIA).

We are going to close the week with a character who can be considered one of the fathers of one of the greatest sports teams of all time. We get on the time machine to go to New York at the beginning of the 20th century and learn about the figure of William Stephen Devery.

Devery was born in New York on January 9, 1854. He joined the police in 1878, when he was 24 years old. He began a meteoric career in the force, since in 1884 he was already a sergeant of the force and in 1891, a captain.

He spent almost a year on leave, 1897, after being accused of bribery and extortion, but the courts ended up agreeing with him and he rejoined the force and continued his promotion, until June 30, 1898, when he was appointed Chief of Police of New York.

Devery, nicknamed ‘Big Bill’ Due to its size, it was well positioned when the police force was restructured and he was appointed deputy commissioner, until in 1902, Seth Low became mayor of the city and left the police.

That’s when he turned to business. He and businessman Frank J. Farrell bought the Baltimore Orioles of the American League of baseball in 1903 and They took them to New York. They baptized the team as the Highlanders, a name that would last ten years. The team was later renamed the New York Yankees. And the rest is history.

In 1915, Farrell and Devery sold the club for $300,000 to Jacob Ruppert Jr. and Tillinghast L’Hommiedieu Huston. Not long after, the June 20, 1919, William Stephen Devery suffered a stroke and died. He was 65 years old.

I hope you liked the article. See you tomorrow.

2024-04-14 07:46:10
#William #Stephen #Devery #police #chief #created #York #Yankees

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.