As the first General Manager of the 1950s Colorado Springs Sky Sox ( ), Bill helped popularize

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1 Name of Nominee Bill MacPhail (individual or team) Address deceased Accomplishments of the Nominee As the first General Manager of the 1950s Colorado Springs Sky Sox ( ), Bill helped popularize professional baseball in Colorado Springs as well as create family-oriented entertainment. The executive behind the city's first professional sports championship - the 1953 Sky Sox regular season Western League title. Named "Man of the Year" by the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph for Helped Colorado Springs receive national publicity through features in LIFE magazine After leaving Colorado Springs in December 1954: first Public Relations and Promotion Director for the Kansas City Athletics baseball team the first Director, then Vice President of CBS Sports - spearheaded CBS' acquisition and coverage of the NFL, Masters golf, 1960 Olympics, baseball, college football, baksetball, horse racing, etc. Hired many iconic sports announcers from Pat Summerall, Dizzy Dean and Frank Gifford Vice President of Sports for Cable News Network (CNN) - established the 24-hours news network's sports department; hiring many (more) iconic broadcasters of the present day - Dan Patrick, Hannah Storm, Keith Olbermann, Craig Sager, NIck Charles and Fred Hickman Received the first Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football"

2 August Recognized by the Sky Sox in pre-game festivities! Affiliations Sky Sox Kansas City Athletics CBS CNN Describe why this individual or team should be inducted to the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame William (Bill) Curtis MacPhail helped re-establish professional baseball in Colorado Springs as the first general manager of the 1950s Western league Colorado Springs Sky Sox. He gained Colorado Springs national notoriety through the pages of LIFE magazine; was named Man of the Year for 1952 by the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph; and was the business executive for the city s first professional league championship team when the Sky Sox won the Western league regular season title in After spending five years in Colorado Springs, Bill MacPhail went on to become a television pioneer as the first director of sports for CBS Television as well as the first vice president of sports for Cable News Network (CNN). MacPhail negotiated the first network television contracts with the National Football League, the Masters golf tournament and the International Olympic Committee for coverage of the 1960 Winter and Summer Olympic s in Squaw Valley, Calif., and Rome, Italy. He received the first Pete Rozelle Radio- Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989 and he was the first to hire many sports announcers at the network level who have become icons in the history of (sports) television, including Pat Summerall, Frank Gifford, Irv Cross, Jerry Coleman, Dan Patrick, Nick Charles, Fred Hickman, Hannah Storm, Craig Sager and Keith Olbermann. Bill s family pedigree made the announcement of his hiring as the first general manager of the newly formed Colorado Springs baseball team in October 1949 an intriguing one. His father Larry was a legendary figure in the baseball world, after running the Cincinnati Reds from , the Brooklyn Dodgers from and then being an ownership partner of the New York Yankees from

3 Larry was known as the P.T. Barnum of Baseball and among his promotional credits are introducing baseball under the lights (night baseball 1935), originating plane travel for teams and championing the regular broadcasting of games. In 1978, he was inducted into baseball s Hall of Fame. Larry s two sons, Lee and Bill, were both veterans of World War II, and both followed in their father s footsteps in the baseball business. After the war, Bill was the traveling secretary for the Yankees in 1946 and then joined his brother Lee as baseball adm inistrators (Lee as general manager; Bill as assistant general manager) for the Yankees top minor league team, the Kansas City Blues. Lee would go on to become the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees, and then become president of the American League. Lee was inducted into baseball s Hall of Fame in 1998, and Lee and his father are the only father/son baseball Hall of Famers. In 1949, Bill moved to the Chicago White Sox organization and became the assistant general manager for the Memphis Chicks. To further his baseball career, Bill campaigned to run a team, and was selected by the White Sox and Colorado Springs banker H. Chase Stone to become the first general manager of Colorado Springs new baseball club on Oct. 30, Colorado Springs had sought inclusion in the post- World War II reformed Western league when it was re-established in Colorado Springs had its first professional team in the league, the Colorado Springs Millionaires, in , and again for the last 10 games of the 1916 season. The league closed shop due to World War II but re-established play in 1947 with six teams. After three seasons, the league agreed to add two teams, and Colorado Springs joined Wichita as the two cities granted franchises in August 1949 to start play in When Bill was hired as general manager, the team did not have a minor league-ready stadium/playing field, any players, an office staff or a name. Working with the directors of the team, President Chase Stone, Treasurer Bill Kice and others, Bill was the lead day-to-day administrator a one man public relations, promotion and player personnel director to make the team ready for the start of the 1950 season. In conjunction with the Gazette-Telegraph, a nickname contest was conducted and on Jan. 1, 1950, the name Sky Sox was announced submitted by local resident Melvin Barhite to commemorate the city s altitude as well as the team s affiliation (White Sox). Ticket drives were held, speaking engagements made, promotions developed and a stadium at Memorial Field was built. Opening Day included a noon parade in downtown Colorado Springs (in sunshine), but by the time the game was to start at 2 o clock in the

4 afternoon heavy snow postponed the opening game until the next night. All this was chronicled in the local newspapers of the day the Gazette-Telegraph and the Free Press as well as a feature story in LIFE magazine in May 1950 titled Birth of a Ball Club. Promotions at minor league baseball games were as prevalent in the 1950s as today, and included wheel barrel races, cow-milking contests and celebrity appearances. Watching the Sky Sox was the place to be in Colorado Springs at the time (along with Colorado College hockey), and the team and the city received many attendance awards for the largest crowds per capita (at about 46,000, Colorado Springs had one of the smallest population bases in the league, which included Denver, Omaha, Des Moines, Sioux City, Lincoln, Wichita, Pueblo). In the first four years of the team s existence, attendance was even at approximately 107,000 for each of the first two years, spiked to its highest level of more than 170,000 in 1952 and then its second highest level in 1953 of more than 140,000. Beginning in 1953 (the year of the team s first championship), the advent of television began to drive attendance down league wide and was a major factor in the Western league s demise after the 1958 season. In 1952, the Sky Sox battled for the championship to the final day of the season, but lost by one game to Denver. The season saw the highest attendance ever for the team at 170,041, and Bill was named Man of the Year for 1952 by the Gazette-Telegraph. The MOY award had been started in 1948, and Bill was the first and only sports recipient at the time. Previous recipients were Bill s boss, Chase Stone, president of the First National Bank in 1948, Joe Reich, Chamber of Commerce president in 1949, General William Gill, president of Colorado College in 1950 and Irvin Dad Bruce, police chief in The 1953 season was the franchise s high point with the second highest ever attendance at 141,117 and winning the city s first professional championship the regular season Western league title. In the 1950s, the regular season title was the goal and the utmost accomplishment. In the record books, the regular season champion is recognized. There were post-season playoffs among the top four regular-season finishers, but that was a playoff title, and not the league champion. The Sky Sox would win two more regular season Western league titles in the 1950s in 1955 and 1958 with the 1955 team also losing in the post-season playoff while in 1958, no post-season playoff was held.

5 The 1953 team had many of the Sky Sox stars of the 50s Sam Hairston (catcher), Jim Landis (center field), Jerry Crosby (third/first base), Len Johnston (right field), Bill Pope, Bob Kerce and Don Bradey (pitchers), Joe Hicks (outfield), Al Jacinto (second base), Earl Battey (catcher), among others. They were managed for the second and final year by former 1930s St. Louis Cardinals Gas House gang member Don Gutteridge. Gutteridge was a no-nonsense manager and had the respect of his players. A life-long baseball man, Gutteridge would manage the White Sox in the seasons. The team won the title on the last day of the season, Sunday afternoon, Sept. 13, 1953, with a 10-7 victory over the Lincoln Chiefs in front of a sold-out crowd. After the game, fans filled the field, Sam Hairston led a conga-line of revelers and the team celebrated in the locker room. The next day, the team was feted during the weekly Quarterback Club meeting of city business and sports leaders (a forerunner of the Sports Corporation.) Bill left the Sky Sox after the 1954 season to return to Kansas City with a promotion to the major leagues and the newly relocated Athletics who were now in Kansas City. Bill would spend one season as the first Kansas City Athletics promotion and public relations director before CBS tapped him to become their first, full-time director of sports. Sports on television was in its infancy, and Bill would be part of if not the instigator of the explosive rise of televised sports. Bill recognized the impact pro football (NFL) could have on television and was an integral part of establishing the popularity of the NFL on television. He also was part of the CBS team that secured the Masters golf tournament for television and to this day, CBS affiliation with the Masters tournament is the longest-running sports event on the same network (starting in 1956). Bill negotiated television contracts with all the professional and collegiate sports bodies, the Internati onal Olympic Committee, horse racing, soccer, etc. As director/vice president of CBS Sports, Bill also hired many of the icons of sports broadcasters Pat Summerall, Frank Gifford, Irv Cross, Bud Palmer, Jerry Coleman, etc. Bill was the executive face of CBS Sports (as Roone Arledge was at ABC Sports) and he was a true pioneer in television sports. Bill left CBS in May 1974 and after a few years as a consultant, was hired by Ted Turner in 1979 to establish sports coverage for Turner s newly created Cable News Network (CNN) starting in June Bill again hired talent such as Dan Patrick, Hannah Storm, Keith Olbermann, Craig Sager, Nick Charles, Fred

6 Hickman, Dan Hicks and others who became household names. He also hired a certain young producer out of college named David Raith. Bill retired in 1995 and his protégé, Jim Walton, took over the reins of CNN Sports. Walton was named president of CNN in 2003 and just stepped down at the end of Bill passed away in Atlanta after complications from surgery on Sept. 4, He was 76 years old. Bill had a full career and it all started in Colorado Springs helping make winning Sky Sox teams and drawing attention to the city. He is truly a worthy choice to be inducted into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame. Name of Person David Raith Submitting Nomination Phone Number (Day) (719) Phone Number (719) (Evening) dcraith@aol.com Address 710 North Wahsatch Avenue Colorado Springs, CO United States Relationship/Affiliation Bill was my boss and mentor at CNN from to Nominee If Bill is elected, I would work to have a MacPhail family member attend the Gala event.

2014 MAJOR LEAGUE LEAGUE BASEBALL ATTENDANCE NOTES

2014 MAJOR LEAGUE LEAGUE BASEBALL ATTENDANCE NOTES This is a brief summary of 2014 Major League Baseball attendance. It includes league and team attendance in the pages that follow the notes below. The