New York Yankees: Buying Players Since the Babe Ruth Era, but Not This Time

The New York Yankees have been doing it since the days of Babe Ruth.

After finishing three games behind the Detroit Tigers in 1935, the Yankees tried to improve their team for the 1936 season by attempting to purchase the contracts of Joe Vosmik and Earl Averill from the financially troubled Cleveland Indians.

The New York Times reported on Jan 22, 1936 that the Yankees offered the Indians $241,000 for the services of Vosmik and Averill, but the Tribe's president, Alva Bradley, turned it down.

At the December winter meetings in Chicago, Bradley told reporters "We are not trying to sell players, we are trying to buy them."

The Indians had finished third in 1935, 12 games behind the Tigers and nine games behind the Yankees.

Bradley informed Yankees manager Joe McCarthy that his team had lost $241,000 during his eight years of ownership. McCarthy immediately offered Bradley the money in return for the two stars, telling him that his loss would be wiped out.

Vosmik was a 25-year-old left fielder who batted .348 in 1935. He led the league with 216 hits, 47 doubles and 20 triples while slugging .537. He would certainly help the Yankees.

Still an Indian in 1936, Vosmik slumped to .287 with only seven home runs,.

Averill, who is a Hall of Famer, hit .288 with 19 home runs in 1935, but in 1936, with the Indians and not the Yankees, he batted.378/.438/.627 with 28 home runs and 128 RBIs.

Joe Vosmik played from 1930-40 before he helped defend freedom. He played briefly in 1941 and again in 1944 after his release. Vosmik batted .307/.369/.428. He has been almost forgotten in the 21st century.

Earl Averill was active from 1929-1941, batting .318/.395/.534 in a Hall of Fame career.

Joe McCarthy knew talent when he saw it.

The Yankees didn't suffer without the addition of Vosmik and Averill.

Their 1936 outfield consisted of rookie Joe DiMaggio in center field (.323/.352/.576 with 29 home runs and 125 RBIs), George Selkirk in right field (.308/.420/.511 with 18 home runs and 107 RBIs) and Jake Powell in left field (.302/.366/.424 with seven home runs and 48 RBIs).

Powell shared the left field duties with Myril Hoag (.301/.343/.468).

The Yankees won the 1936 pennant by a whopping 19.5 games over the runner-up Tigers. The Indians, with Vosmik and Averill, could do no better than fifth place, 22.5 games behind.

It was a strange American League season because the Indians were 80-74 (.519) but finished out of the money.

The reason was that the seventh place St. Louis Browns were 57-95 (.375) and Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics finished last with a 53-100 (.346) record.

The Yankees have always used their financial resources to improve the team or, on many occasions, to hammer the opposition into submission by overwhelming them with talent, with the exception of the years they were owned by CBS.

George Steinbrenner took over the Yankees in 1973. He made previous owners appear frugal with his unlimited spending, especially once the free agent era started.

The Yankees have had some great general managers, such as Ed Barrow and George Weiss, who made some excellent trades, but they always had great financial resources to back them up.

What made Barrow and Weiss great was the fact that they didn't squander their resources as did Mr.. Steinbrenner, until he realized that baseball men such as Gene Michael, Bob Watson and Buck Showalter could do a better job at building the Yankees than he could.

References:

Baseball Reference

"Club's Loss $241,000." New York Times. 22 Jan. 1936. p. 25.