A model franchise in the making...
When Robert Kraft bought the Patriots on this date in 1994 he was buying a faltering, money losing franchise that won less than half of their games (225 of 510) since its founding in 1959. Buying the team for $172 million, Kraft has transformed a dying franchise into one of the most valuable franchises in the world. The FORBES 2005 NFL team value rankings put the Patriots at #3 at $1 billion, trailing only the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. The only other sports team carrying a billion-dollar price tag is the U.K. soccer team, Manchester United. Since buying the Patriots in 1994, the team has won 3 Super Bowls. Kraft explains why the Patriots work, "I hire good people I can trust, no superstars, no Lone Rangers. If you keep the turkeys out of your life, then good things can happen"...
Another sports franchise changed hands on this date in 1980 when the original Mets owner Joan Whitney Payson sold the franchise to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon for a reported $21.1 million, the most ever paid for a major league franchise at the time. Since that date the Mets have been in 2 World Series, winning one of them in 1986 but losing to the Yankees in 2000. There would be another change in ownership in 2002 when Wilpon took over full control of the team. The Mets, after a busy off-season of trades and free agent signings hope to contend this year and on March 16th will launch their new cable network, SportsNet New York...
Two legendary sports franchises sold on the same date, one is a model franchise, the other faces another season of hope...
Read about Robert Kraft, the fan, in my commentary...
More January 24 Memories...
1848) James W. Marshall discovers a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California. The discovery leads to the gold rush of '49...
1888) The typewriter ribbon is patented by Jacob L. Wortman (hopefully he has a typewriter to put it in)...
1899) Humphrey O'Sullivan patents the rubber heel (hopefully he has a shoe to put it on)...
1908) The 1st Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell...
1916) The U.S. Supreme Court rules that income tax was unconstitutional (I say bring back the judges on that court)...
1922) Christian K. Nelson, an Iowa native, patents the Eskimo Pie...
1935) The Krueger Brewing Company places the 1st canned beer on sale in Richmond, VA...
1957) Elvis Presley records "Teddy Bear"...
1962) Brian Epstein becomes the Beatles manager and begins to clean up their image, dressing the Fab Four in matching suits...
1965) Winston Churchill dies at the age of 90...
1970) James "Shep" Sheppard of the Heartbeats and Shep and the Limelites is found murdered in his car on the Long Island Expressway...
1974) Ringo Starr tops the charts with "You're Sixteen" (with a brief solo by Paul McCartney on the song)...
1980) Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon buy the Mets (feature story)...
1989) Confessed serial killer Ted Bundy is put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnapping and murder of 12-year old Kimberly Leach...
1994) Robert Kraft buys the Patriots for $172 million (feature story)...
1995) The prosecution gives its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial...
2003) The Department of Homeland Security begins operations under Tom Ridge (colors of the rainbow to follow)...
2003) "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin and Peter, Paul and Mary's "Blowin' in the Wind" are among 21 new additions to the Grammy Hall of Fame...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1917) Ernest Borgnine...
1918) Oral Roberts...
1939) Ray Stevens...
1941) Neil Diamond...
1941) Aaron Neville...
1951) Yakov Smirnoff...
1968) Mary Lou Retton...
1986) Mischa Barton...
Commentary...
Boston born businessman Robert Kraft was a Patriot fan for years before buying the team in 1994. He went to his 1st game in 1971, sitting on the cold, hard metal benches at the old Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough (and if you ever sat in one of those seats you remember how cold they would get). Kraft even remembers where he sat, "section 217, row 23, seats one through six". Kraft would bring his 4 boys and sometimes a friend along to watch what was likely to be another defeat by the home team. In 1994 he turned the franchise around, into an eventual 3-time Super Bowl champion...
Fred Wilpon was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and teammate of Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn. In 1986 he would share the World Series championship with partner Nelson Doubleday and a World Series appearance against the Yankees in the 2000 World Series, although a losing one. In all fairness to Wilpon, he's only been the sole owner of the team since 2002 and while the Mets future looks bright, the time has come for a World Championship flag to fly over Shea Stadium. Let's hope we see it...
Today is the 24th day of 2006 with 341 days left in the year but only 55 days until Spring. Better yet only 23 days remain until pitchers and catchers...
