#Determining the best owners of New York-area sports teams

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“#Determining the best owners of New York-area sports teams”

You know the difference between a good owner and a bad owner?

Actually, it’s a trick question. The people who own sports franchises aren’t judged on anywhere close to a judicious fashion. If you were a stockholder in the team, and that team sold almost every seat and maximized every dollar, like a certain pro basketball team based in Manhattan, you probably feel differently about the person at the top than others might.

Of course, we only care about wins and losses in sports, so that tends to be the filter through which we judge owners. The Mets — you may have heard — are up for sale, and so there is massive speculation about what kind of owner Steve Cohen might be, or Alex Rodriguez might be, or any of the others.

What makes a good owner? Let’s see if we can determine the best of the best who have owned the nine teams we currently call our own.

Yankees: It is a two-horse race. Jacob Ruppert, under whose watch the Yankees became the Yankees, who purchased Babe Ruth and began a stretch between 1921-64 unparalleled in team sports history. And there is the Steinbrenner family, beginning with the 1973 deal that brought George to New York, an often tempestuous reign but one that has also included seven championships (remarkable given the era), a TV network (unthinkable in ’73) and a new stadium that guaranteed decades of staying in The Bronx, also unthinkable for much of the ’70s and ’80s. No. 1: Steinbrenner.

Mets: There are three choices, really: The original — started by Joan Whitney Payson and finished by her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, which included the ’69 and ’73 miracle boys but started with 120 losses and ended with an attendance for 1979 of 788,905. There was the Doubleday/Wilpon partnership, which delivered so many giddy times (but only one World Series appearance) in the ’80s. And the Wilpon/Wilpon/Katz consortium, since 2002, which included the Madoff mess on one side and the 2015 World Series on the other. No. 1: Doubleday/Wilpon.

Nelson Doubleday (left) with Fred Wilpon at a Mike Piazza press conference in 1998AP

Giants: An intramural family affair! Tim Mara was the mastermind, of course, buying into the NFL for $500. Jack, the older son, was the heir apparent but died young, and so it mostly fell on Wellington (along with Jack’s son, Tim) and, later, to John, who furthered his father’s partnership with the Tisch family, begun in 1991. It has mostly been a dignified run, but the fact Wellington was the driving force behind the NFL’s revenue-sharing lifeblood has to give him the edge. No. 1: Wellington Mara.

Jets: He was a product of his times, so it is hard to imagine another time when Sonny Werblin could’ve owned the Jets and done it as flamboyantly as he did than the ’60s. But facts are facts: Werblin changed the team name, paid $427,000 for Joe Namath, saw Shea Stadium stuffed year after year in the good times and, though he departed a year before Super Bowl III, it was his team. Who’s in second place? Whew. No. 1: Werblin.

Knicks: This has been a mostly complicated and corporate ownership history since Gulf and Western took over the team in 1974, and though there was a spasm in the mid-’90s when things ran smoothly, it has mostly been chaotic in the 46 years since team founder Ned Irish handed things off. And it’s hard to argue with two titles and the modern Garden being built on his watch. No. 1: Irish.

Nets: Such a complicated history, including the star-crossed Roy Bow (under whom the Nets won two ABA titles, acquired then jettisoned Julius Erving), the Secaucus Seven, Mikhail Prokhorov, Joseph Tsai. But the team’s highest and most fleeting prosperity came thanks to a brief partnership between Steinbrenner and Lewis Katz, the old YankeeNets, which yielded two NBA Finals appearances and Lou Lamoriello in charge. No. 1: YankeeNets.

Rangers: Like the Knicks, there is a complicated history here, including a time when the majority stockholder of the team also owned the Red Wings. But the team was named after Tex Rickard (as in Tex’s Rangers) and won three Cups under him. No. 1: Rickard.

Islanders: Easily the home of maybe the worst owner of all time (John Spano), this one is pretty cut-and-dry. You win four Stanley Cups in a row when you’re signing the checks, you get to be remembered as the best boss. No. 1: John Pickett.

Devils: Another easy one. He brought professional hockey to his home state, kept it there after flirting with Nashville, and won two Cups as owner. And had one of the greatest of all sports one-liners from his past life as partner with the Yankees: “Nothing is so limited as being one of George’s limited partners.” No. 1: John McMullen.

Vac Whack’s

I’m not sure I’ve ever been quite as disappointed by anything as I was by the “30 Rock” reunion this week.

I think we are officially close enough to where you can start looking at that Mets lineup and start allowing your motor to hum a little bit. Same deal with the Yankees batting order, especially with DJ LeMahieu back in the fold.

I’m not entirely convinced we aren’t going to see Billy “The Whopper” Paultz and Larry “Mr. K” Kenon in the lineup when the Nets line up with the Magic on July 31.

2020 is the worst “30 for 30” ever. Ever.

Whack Back at Vac

Steven Schafler: I was thinking of purchasing one of those cardboard cutouts of myself for the Mets games at Citi Field. That’s until I found out they don’t supply umbrellas during rain delays.

Vac: They also haven’t yet mastered a way to get virtual Pat LaFrieda’s delivered to the cutouts. That’s a key.

Dennis Murray: Mike, who will be the first Yankees player to walk up to Tommy James’ “I Think We’re Alone Now?”

Vac: Whoever it turns out to be, it will be easy in the cavernous stadium to gear me applauding from the press box.

@TS_MagnumIII: Some will find this type of season fun. I will not be among them, save for the fact I’m watching baseball … hopefully. A 60-game baseball season just can’t be taken seriously.

@MikeVacc: I think the seriousness of the season will be an absolutely subjective view, and I don’t think there’s a wrong answer.

Mel Gross: I read some teams are considering canned stadium sounds for games. I think they should play loud music during the game so the players will be subjected to what the fans endure at every game.

Vac: Hey, if we’re able to go with baseball 4-for-4 in the WhackBacks, you know we are achingly close to a season …