Arthur Richman (c. 1925 – March 25, 2009) was an American
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
writer at a
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
newspaper who become a sports executive, working in the front office of both the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
and
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
.
Biography
He was hired by the ''
New York Daily Mirror
The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...
'' in 1942, starting as a copy boy. He worked his way up the ladder, becoming a baseball reporter, writing a popular column called "The Armchair Manager".
[
After the paper closed as a result of the ]1962 New York City newspaper strike
Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita ...
, Richman was hired by the nascent New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
, initially as director of promotions, and later publicity director. He became the team's traveling secretary in 1980 and served in that post until 1988 after making remarks critical of players regarding the share of postseason monies that he was allocated by players. In a 1994 interview, he stated that Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
Nelson Doubleday Jr. (July 20, 1933 – June 17, 2015) was the owner and the next-to-last president and CEO of Doubleday and Company before its sale to Bertelsmann A.G. in 1986. He was instrumental in the company's purchase of the New York Mets ...
, then an owner of the team, had made anti-Semitic statements in his presence.[
He was hired by the ]New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
as their vice president of media relations in May 1989, replacing Harvey Greene. Asked by George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...
to prepare a list of candidates to succeed Buck Showalter
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III (born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondb ...
, Richman included Sparky Anderson
George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third t ...
, Davey Johnson
David Allen Johnson (born January 30, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played as a second baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League ...
, Tony La Russa
Anthony La Russa Jr. (; born October 4, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. His MLB career has spanned from 1963 to 2022, in several roles. He is the former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland At ...
and Joe Torre
Joseph Paul Torre (; born July 18, 1940) is an American professional baseball executive, serving as a special assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball since 2020. He previously served in the capacity of Major League Baseball's (MLB) chief baseb ...
. Anderson was happily retired at the time, and Johnson and La Russa were about to sign contracts with the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
and St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...
, respectively. Richman had known Torre from his time at the Mets when Torre was leading the team from the dugout. Newspapers were critical of the choice of Torre, who had won only one pennant in his prior 14 years as manager, and after Steinbrenner saw the printed comments, he asked Richman "Do you know what you're doing?"; he responded "If I don't, fire me".
In a statement released after Richman's death, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner described how "Arthur Richman made baseball and the New York Yankees an enormous part of his life, and I am grateful for his contributions both personally and professionally" noting that he was "someone the world of baseball will find impossible to replace".[
]
Personal
His brother, Milton Richman, was also a sportswriter, and was inducted into the Writers' Wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in 1981. His brother died in 1986.[Staff]
"MILTON RICHMAN"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', June 10, 1986. accessed March 26, 2009.
Richman died in his sleep at age 83 on March 25, 2009.[Via '']Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
''
"Longtime baseball executive Richman dies at 83"
''International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'', March 25, 2009. Accessed March 26, 2009.
References
External links
Madden, Bill. "Legends Johnny Blanchard, Arthur Richman are one in Yankee memories," ''New York Daily News'', Thursday, March 26, 2009.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richman, Arthur
1920s births
2009 deaths
20th-century American Jews
American sportswriters
New York Mets executives
New York Yankees executives
21st-century American Jews