William Hoover Yawkey (August 22, 1875 – March 5, 1919) was an American business executive in the lumber and mining industries. He was the sole owner of the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

from 1903 through 1908, and majority owner from 1908 to 1919.

Biography

Yawkey was the son of wealthy

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

lumber tycoon William Clyman Yawkey. The elder Yawkey agreed to buy the Tigers from Samuel F. Angus in 1903, but died before the deal closed.

Frank Navin Francis Joseph Navin (April 18, 1871 – November 13, 1935) was an American businessman and baseball executive who was the president of the Detroit Tigers in Major League Baseball for 27 years, from 1908 to 1935. He was part-owner from 1908 to ...

, then the Tigers' bookkeeper and vice president, persuaded the younger Yawkey to complete the deal. Yawkey took little interest in the Tigers, leaving day-to-day control in Navin's hands. In 1908, Yawkey sold almost half of the club's stock to Navin, effectively making Navin a full partner. Yawkey died in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

, in 1919 from the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

. He was interred in a family lot in

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a New England town, town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located about north of the Massachusetts state line at the confluence of Vermont's West River (Vermont), West River and the Connec ...

. Following Yawkey's death, Navin bought additional stock from the Yawkey estate, raising his stake to 50 percent; he would remain the Tigers' principal owner until his own death in 1935. Yawkey left his $40 million estate to his nephew and adoptive son,

Tom Yawkey Thomas Austin Yawkey (born Thomas Yawkey Austin; February 21, 1903 – July 9, 1976) was an American industrialist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933 and was the sole owner ...

, who later bought the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. A boathouse that Yawkey had constructed in 1917 in

Hazelhurst, Wisconsin Hazelhurst is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,258 at the 2018 census. The unincorporated community of Hazelhurst (community), Wisconsin, Hazelhurst is located in the town. Hazelhur ...

, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2009. A cousin, Cyrus C. Yawkey, owned a lumber business and was a politician in Wisconsin.

Notes

References

External links

Detroit Tigers owners
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yawkey, Bill 1875 births 1919 deaths People from Bay City, Michigan American business executives Major League Baseball owners Detroit Tigers owners Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state) 19th-century American businesspeople