In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

170 7 Close to the Top Once Again I had to face the fact that I wasn’t the same pitcher anymore. My ninety- five-mile-an-hour fastball made only rare cameo appearances. —Bob Gibson, commenting on his 1973 season By 1973, it had been nearly ten years since the Cardinals had faced the New York Yankees in their tremendous World Series clash, the last hurrah for the proud Yankee teams led by Mantle and Whitey Ford. As the Cardinals continued to build strength and championships through the rest of the ’60s, the Yankees fell upon the darkest days the franchise had ever known. The Columbia Broadcasting System had been looking for a buyer for the team; after entertaining several bids, they found a group looking for a bargain. With the advent of the new year, two new towering figures— the World Trade Center and George Steinbrenner—were about to be open for business in New York. On January 3, 1973, the Cleveland-based shipping magnate Steinbrenner and his partner, Mike Burke, led ten other individuals in purchasing the Yankees from CBS for $10 million. The price was such a steal that many noticed it was the same amount that the Padres and Expos had to pay to enter the National League in 1969. “Are the fabled Yankees, winners of 29 pennants and 20 world championships, worth no more than a modern expansion club?” scoffed Jack Lang of Sporting News. In fact, by the time Steinbrenner and his group took over, New York City had already agreed to pledge more than twice as much—$24 million—to renovate Yankee Stadium during the 1974 and 1975 seasons while the team played in the Mets’ home park of Shea Stadium. The value Close to the Top Once Again 171 of the franchise had plummeted so much over the 1960s that the $10 million deal that the new owners were getting was also $3.2 million less than CBS paid in 1964 to acquire the club. While CBS was shopping for a buyer, it was rumored that another configuration represented by former Giants manager Herman Franks had also submitted a bid, and if it had been successful, it was further reported that Franks was ready to install Willie Mays as the Yankees’ manager, which would have made him the first black field boss in the modern history of the Major Leagues. The forty-two-year-old Steinbrenner, once suitor to buy his hometown Indians , admitted that although he had “always been an Indians fan, [he] could never root against the Yankees.”At the time he struck the deal with CBS, he was also part owner of the Chicago Bulls of the NBA, and like Busch, Wrigley, and other owners of the day, he had already made his fortune in another field, as he wished to focus more on wins and losses than the bottom line for the ball club. With Nixon signing the Paris Peace Accords that same January—officially ending American operations in Vietnam—Steinbrenner was getting ready to wage a war on the American League that would continue until his death in late 2010. By 1979 Steinbrenner had bought out all of his partners in the Yankees deal, including John McMullen. “There is nothing in life quite so limited,” McMullen said,“as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner.” And in February Marvin Miller was about to strike his own peace deal with the owners on another new collective bargaining agreement—but one whose expiration in three years in 1976 would lead to yet another cataclysmic event on the business side of baseball, and one in which Flood’s name would be evoked many times thereafter. In the preceding months, the previous ownership had already landed Steinbrenner at least one piece of the team that would lead to further success in the future. Back on November 27, they had secured perhaps the most promising young third baseman in the game from the Indians in Graig Nettles. In the coming weeks, however, Steinbrenner would be immediately confronted with a bizarre off-field situation—the “wife swapping” that occurred between Yankees pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson. In a most bizarre idea, the two pitchers had also agreed to trade children as well. Kuhn stepped in immediately to voice his disgust, saying that ballplayers must truly recognize the moral impact they have on youth. “It does baseball no good, it does no good for sports in general. I’m appalled...

Share