Farrell and Devery Buy the Franchise for New York

On January 9, 1903, two men with no baseball experience bought a franchise with no players for $18,000. Frank Farrell, a racehorse owner and gambling operator, and Bill Devery, a former New York City police chief with deep Tammany Hall connections, purchased the wreckage of the Baltimore Orioles and announced plans to move the team to Manhattan. The American League approved the transfer on March 12. The team would play at Hilltop Park in Washington Heights, carry the nickname "Highlanders," and begin a journey that would eventually produce the most successful franchise in professional sports -- though nobody who witnessed the $18,000 transaction could've predicted any of that.

The Buyers

Frank Farrell was a New York original. He'd made his money in horse racing and ran gambling operations that were well known to law enforcement and completely unbothered by it. He had cash, connections, and an appetite for spectacle -- the three qualifications that mattered most in early-1900s team ownership.

Bill Devery was even more colorful. He'd risen through the New York Police Department to become chief, accumulating wealth along the way through channels that nobody examined too closely. His ties to Tammany Hall -- the political machine that ran New York City -- gave the franchise instant access to the levers of municipal power. Need a building permit for a ballpark? Devery knew who to call.

Together, they weren't baseball men. They were New York operators who saw an opportunity. Ban Johnson needed someone to take the Baltimore franchise off his hands and plant it in the country's largest city. Farrell and Devery needed an investment that came with prestige and publicity. The $18,000 price tag reflected what the franchise was actually worth in January 1903: not much. The Great Raid had gutted the roster. Only about five players from the 1902 Orioles would appear in a Highlanders uniform. The franchise Farrell and Devery bought was a legal entity, a league charter, and not much else.

Johnson's Market Strategy

Ban Johnson had wanted a team in New York since the American League's founding. The 1901 launch had placed franchises in eight cities, but New York -- the country's biggest media market and its financial capital -- wasn't one of them. Johnson had tried to negotiate entry before the 1901 season but couldn't find a suitable ballpark site or overcome the Giants' territorial objections.

The Orioles' collapse solved the franchise problem, if not the political one. Johnson now had a team to move. He just needed a location and owners who could navigate New York's political terrain. Farrell and Devery checked both boxes. Their Tammany connections opened doors that Johnson couldn't have opened on his own, and their willingness to invest in a ballpark gave the team a physical home.

The choice of Hilltop Park -- a wooden facility on one of the highest points in Manhattan, at 165th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights -- gave the team its first identity. The elevation inspired the nickname "Highlanders," though some newspapers also used "Americans," "Invaders," or "Hilltoppers" in the early years.

Joseph Gordon and the Facade

Farrell and Devery installed Joseph Gordon, a New York businessman, as the team's figurehead president. Gordon's name went on the letterhead while Farrell and Devery made the actual decisions. The arrangement was common in early baseball -- owners frequently used front men to maintain a respectable public image while retaining control behind the scenes.

Gordon handled the day-to-day business operations while the two owners focused on what interested them: spending money, making connections, and basking in the attention that came with owning a professional baseball team in the biggest city in America.

What They Bought (and What They Didn't)

The transaction included the franchise rights -- the legal charter that entitled the new owners to field an American League team. It didn't include much else. The 1902 roster had been destroyed by the July 17 raid and further depleted by the season's attrition. Of the 39 players who'd appeared in an Orioles uniform in 1902, roughly five made it to New York.

The 1903 Highlanders were, for all practical purposes, a new team. The continuity with Baltimore was legal and administrative, not operational or competitive. In 2014, Baseball-Reference officially separated the 1901-1902 Orioles from Yankees history, with MLB historian John Thorn supporting the decision based on new ownership, near-total roster turnover, and the AL's seizure of the franchise.

But the charter remained. Whatever you called the team -- Orioles, Highlanders, Yankees -- the American League franchise that was created on January 4, 1901, in Baltimore was the same franchise that Frank Farrell and Bill Devery bought on January 9, 1903. The thread is thin, but it's unbroken.

The Road to "Yankees"

The Highlanders played under that name from 1903 through 1912. The "Yankees" nickname appeared informally in newspaper coverage -- sportswriters preferred it because it fit in headlines better than "Highlanders" -- and the team officially adopted it in 1913. By then, Farrell and Devery's ownership was coming apart. They'd sell the team to Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast Huston in 1915 for $460,000 -- a return of roughly 2,400% on their original $18,000 investment, though their profits were eaten by years of operating losses and stadium costs.

Ruppert was the owner who built the dynasty. He bought Babe Ruth, built Yankee Stadium, and turned a middling franchise into baseball's dominant force. But he built it on the foundation that Farrell and Devery had laid -- the New York market, the American League charter, and the bet that a gutted franchise from Baltimore could become something more than the sum of its parts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did the New York Yankees franchise originally cost?

Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the Baltimore Orioles franchise for $18,000 on January 9, 1903, and relocated it to New York. The team was renamed the Highlanders and played at Hilltop Park. The low price reflected the franchise's depleted state after the 1902 Great Raid stripped the roster of its best players.

Who were Frank Farrell and Bill Devery?

Farrell was a racehorse owner and gambling operator. Devery was a former New York City police chief with deep connections to Tammany Hall, the city's dominant political machine. Neither had baseball experience, but their capital and political connections gave Ban Johnson the partners he needed to establish an AL franchise in New York.

When did the Highlanders become the Yankees?

The team officially adopted the "Yankees" name in 1913, though New York sportswriters had been using it informally for years because it fit more easily into newspaper headlines than "Highlanders." The team played under the Highlanders name from 1903 through 1912.

How many players from the 1902 Orioles went to the 1903 Highlanders?

Only about five of the 39 players who appeared for the 1902 Baltimore Orioles made it to the 1903 New York roster. The near-total roster turnover, combined with new ownership and a new city, led Baseball-Reference to officially separate the 1901-1902 Orioles from Yankees franchise history in 2014.