Tom Yawkey

Thomas Austin "Tom" Yawkey
Tom Yawkey with Red Sox star Ted Williams in an undated photograph.
Born	Thomas Austin (1903-02-21)February 21, 1903 Detroit, Michigan
Died	July 9, 1976(1976-07-09) (aged 73) Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Known for	Owner of the Boston Red Sox
Term	1933–1976
Predecessor	J. A. Robert Quinn
Successor	Jean R. 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 of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone else in baseball history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980.

Yawkey was born Thomas Austin in Detroit on February 21, 1903. He was the grandson of lumber and iron magnate William Clyman Yawkey, who agreed in principle to buy the Detroit Tigers in 1903 but died before the deal closed. The deal eventually was completed by Tom's uncle, Bill Yawkey. After his father died, Tom's uncle adopted him and he took the Yawkey name.

Bill Yawkey died in 1919 and left his $40 million estate to his adopted son, but a clause in the will forbade him from taking possession of it until he turned 30 years old. Tom Yawkey was a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University in 1925 and was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

In 1933, four days after his 30th birthday, Yawkey bought the Red Sox for $1.25 million, and persuaded friend and former Philadelphia Athletics second baseman Eddie Collins to be the team’s vice president and general manager.

The Red Sox had been the dregs of the American League for more than a decade since the infamous Babe Ruth sale to the Yankees by former owner Harry Frazee before the 1920 season, and had just come off a dreadful 111-loss season in 1932 which is still the worst in franchise history. Yawkey hired Collins as general manager with instructions to buy up as much talent as possible to turn the team around. He also heavily renovated Fenway Park, which had fallen into disrepair over the years.

Yawkey devoted his time and finances for the rest of his life to attempting to build winning teams, with the Boston Globe citing Yawkey's estimation in 1974 that he lost $10 million on the team during his tenure owning the Red Sox. His teams' best seasons occurred in 1946, 1967, and 1975, when the Red Sox captured the American League pennant but then went on to lose each World Series in seven games, against the St. Louis Cardinals (1946, 1967) and the Cincinnati Reds (1975). He would never achieve his ultimate goal of winning a world championship.