The Colonel and Hug: The Partnership That Transformed the New York Yankees

About the Book

From the team's inception in 1903, the New York Yankees were a floundering group that played as second-class citizens to the New York Giants. The team was purchased in 1915 by Jacob Ruppert and his partner, Til Huston. Three years later, when Ruppert hired Miller Huggins as manager, the unlikely partnership of the two figures began, one that set into motion the Yankees' run as the dominant baseball franchise of the 1920s and the rest of the twentieth century, capturing six American League pennants with Huggins at the helm and four more during Ruppert's lifetime.

The Yankees' success was driven by Ruppert's executive style and enduring financial commitment, combined with Huggins's philosophy of continual improvement and personnel development. The Colonel and Hug tells the story of how these two men transformed the Yankees in their rise to dominance. It also tells the larger story of America's gradual move from neutrality to entry into World War I and the emergence and impact of Prohibition on American society. This story tells of the end of the Deadball Era and the rise of the Lively Ball Era, a gambling scandal, and the collapse of baseball's governing structure-and the significant role the Yankees played in it all. While the hitting of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig won many games for New York, Ruppert and Huggins institutionalized winning for the Yankees.

Table of Contents:
List of PhotographsForeword by Marty AppelPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPrologue: A Collaboration Is Born
Part 1. The Early Years1. Everything He Touched Won First Prize2. The Colonel Makes a Name for Himself3. Nothing at All but Ambition and Pluck and Brains4. No Smarter Man in Baseball
Part 2. Ruppert Buys the Yankees5. How about the Yankees?6. The Rocky Road to Ownership7. The New Owners Get to Work8. Fritz Maisel Follies9. Anti-German Hysteria and Two Disappointing Seasons
Part 3. Huggins Arrives10. An Impatient City with an Unforgiving Press11. The Nation in Upheaval12. A Season of Transition13. A Battle Leads to a War14. A Home Is No Longer a Home
Part 4. Ruth and Barrow Arrive15. Buying the Babe16. The Risks of Ruth17. Ruth Roars into the Twenties18. Squabbling Owners and Scandal Lead to Landis Coronation19. Huggins Stays
Part 5. The Yankees Rise to the Top20. One of the Fiercest Pennant Battles Ever21. The Struggles and Troubles of Huggins22. Huggins Is My Manager23. This Is the Happiest Day of My Life
Part 6. The Yankees and the Babe Stumble24. It’s Tougher to Manage a Pennant Winner25. New Homes for Single Men and Their Team26. Huggins Waited One Year Too Long
Part 7. The Yankees Rise Again27. Florida’s Boom to Bust and the Yankees’ Bust to Boom28. Huggins Silences His Critics, for Good29. Winning Pennants Is the Business of the Yankees30. Knowing How to Buy and Knowing How to Build
Part 8. Huggins Exits31. The Law of Averages Catches Up with the Yankees32. No Man Ever Struggled Harder33. Succeeding an Immortal
Part 9. The Thirties34. McCarthy Is My Manager35. Repeal, Real Estate, and the Third Reich36. The DiMaggio Years37. It Took Time for Success to Become a Tradition38. The Mystery Lady
Epilogue: A Legacy of ChampionsNotesBibliographyIndex

About the Author :
Steve Steinberg is the coauthor (with Lyle Spatz) of 1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York (Nebraska, 2010), winner of the 2011 Seymour Medal, and the author of Urban Shocker: Silent Hero of Baseball’s Golden Age (Nebraska, 2017), winner of the SABR Baseball Research Award. Lyle Spatz is the author of Dixie Walker: A Life in Baseball. Marty Appel is the former director of public relations for the New York Yankees and author of Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from before the Babe to after the Boss.

 

Review :
"A top-notch sports biography."-Kirkus starred review "The Colonel and Hug explores that remarkably fruitful relationship in a meticulous account brimming with quotes from the period."-Edward Achorn, Weekly Standard "The Colonel and Hug explains admirably how the Yankees became the Yankees. Steinberg and Spatz draw heavily on their research to provide a readable, lively narrative."-Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune "A strong dual biography."-Brett L. Abrams, Sport in American History "This book provides a valuable service in helping its readers better understand the genesis of the greatest dynasty in American sports history."-David Shiner, Inside Game “Miller Huggins and Jacob Ruppert are two of baseball’s all-time great characters, and they finally get the treatment they deserve in this highly entertaining, meticulously researched book. You don’t have to be a Yankees fan to enjoy this wonderful story from baseball’s golden age.”-Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

"The foundation of the legendary New York Yankees that we know today was arguably built on the shoulders of three men: Ruth, Ruppert, and Huggins. While Babe Ruth's exploits have been well documented over the years, we now finally have the definitive story of Yankees owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert and his diminutive giant of a manager, Miller Huggins. . . . A 'must-read' for any fan of the history of this great game."—Vince Gennaro, president of the Society for Baseball Research and professor of sports business management at Columbia University

“Everyone thinks that it was Babe Ruth who turned the suffering Yankees of New York into the Crusaders of Baseball. The Babe helped, surely, but it was two invisible characters-the team’s owner, Jacob Ruppert, and the manager, Miller Huggins-who played major roles in the Yankees' everlasting turnaround. Our blessings to Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz for finally bringing Ruppert and Huggins to new generations of fans.”-Al Silverman, former editor of Sport Magazine and editor and publisher at Viking/Penguin