Ruppert Showed Ruth, Yankees Who Was Boss

He launched what became arguably the 20th century’s greatest sports dynasty, the New York Yankees.

And when Col. Jacob Ruppert died at 71 on this date in 1939, his team was still riding high. It was Ruppert who in 1920 brought Babe Ruth to the Yankees from Boston.

And it was Ruppert who endured many long, bitter salary hassles with Ruth, as Ruth’s salary rose from $20,500 to its peak, $80,000, in 1930.

In 1923, when they were at loggerheads, with Ruth demanding $55,000 and Ruppert offering $50,000, Ruth finally said: “OK, make it $52,000 and it’s a deal.”

“But, why fifty-two?” Ruppert asked.

Replied Ruth: “Because there’s 52 weeks in a year and I always wanted to make a grand a week.”

A one-time congressman who inherited his father’s brewery empire, Ruppert’s passions were yachts, racehorses, Saint Bernard dogs and his baseball team, which he owned from Ruth’s “Murderer’s Row” era to the DiMaggio years. When he died, his estate was estimated to be worth up to $100 million.

When he lay dying in a New York hospital, he was visited by his teary-eyed old antagonist.

“Babe, Babe,” he whispered, and gave Ruth a weak hug.

No one had ever heard him address Ruth by any name other than “Ruth.”

Also on this date: Thirty-two years ago today, UCLA sophomore center Lew Alcindor had his first taste of combat basketball. At Pauley Pavilion, California physically ganged up on the 7-foot-2 Alcindor, and he responded with elbows and body blocks of his own. He contributed 26 points to a 96-78 UCLA win.