Brad's Ultimate New York Yankees Website - www.HistoryOfTheYankees.com
Brad's Page Dedicated to:
Marty Appel - the great PR man for the Yankees!
You can visit Mr. Appel's website at: http://www.appelpr.com/
Marty Appel (born August 7, 1948 in
Appel
attended SUNY Oneonta, graduating in 1970 with a degree in political science. He
was the editor-in-chief of the State Times, Oneonta's student newspaper,
and began his career in baseball while still a student, after writing
then-Yankee public relations chief Bob Fishel.
Appel
started out handling the fan mail for Mickey Mantle and was named PR Director of
the Yankees in 1973 -- the youngest in Major League Baseball history. His time
with the Yankees saw the sale of the team from CBS to a group headed by George
Steinbrenner, an infamous "wife swap" involving pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike
Kekich, renovations to Yankee Stadium and the team's temporary relocation to
Shea Stadium, free agency (most notably the signing of Catfish Hunter), and the
"Bronx Zoo" era, with Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson and Billy Martin. During
this period, the Yankees captured their first pennant in 12 years, and surpassed
the two million mark in attendance for the first time in the American League
since 1950.
After
resigning in 1977 and starting a sports management company with Joe Garagiola
Jr., Appel joined World Team Tennis to do PR for the New York Apples, a team
featuring Billie Jean King and Vitas Gerulaitis. When the league folded at the
end of the season, Appel joined the staff of Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
He also was an Emmy-winning executive producer of Yankee telecasts for WPIX,
where he also served as the station's VP for Public Relations, and produced
pre-season football for the New York Giants and New York Jets. Appel has also
worked for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and The Topps Company,
both in public relations capacities. He currently heads his own firm, Marty
Appel Public Relations.
Appel has
written 16 books, including his memoir Now Pitching for the Yankees, a
biography of King Kelly, and children's biographies of Yogi Berra and Joe
DiMaggio. He has collaborated with Eric Gregg, Larry King, Bowie Kuhn, Lee
MacPhail, Thurman Munson, and Tom Seaver. He has also written forewords to books
and contributed to a variety of publications, including Sports Collectors
Digest, Yankees Magazine and Encyclopedia Americana. His Kelly
biography, Slide, Kelly, Slide, won the Casey Award in 1996 as best
baseball book of the year.
He has
served a member of the Board of Directors for the
Appel is
frequently interviewed for YES Network, HBO and ESPN Classic programming. He was
a consultant for 61*, a Billy Crystal film aired on HBO, and The Bronx
is Burning, a movie airing on ESPN, in which he played himself in one scene.
He also appeared in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo as a
restaurant patron, and as himself in a film about Barry Bonds' 73rd home run
ball, called Up For Grabs.
Appel married Patricia Alkins in 1975 and they were divorced in 1996. They have two children, Brian (Promotion Director for the Boston Phoenix) and Deborah (a music industry executive).
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SABR
Nine: Former Yankees Public Relations Director Marty Appel |
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For
many baseball purists, the term "public relations" can be a dirty word.
But for sports expert
Marty Appel,
the art of quality sports
communications and public relations has
consumed most of his adult life.
According to his autobiography,
Now Pitching for the Yankees,
Appel was the youngest public relations director ever selected to lead a
major league baseball team and was George Steinbrenner’s first hire in
that position with the
Beyond
his own autobiography, Appel is also an established author in his own
right having authored 15 other books, printed in
Epson Ink, including collaborations with Larry
King, Bowie Kuhn, Tom Seaver, Lee MacPhail, umpire Eric Gregg and
Thurman Munson.
A SABR
member since 1977, this feature alone cannot capture the immeasurable
contributions Appel has made to the greater baseball consciousness.
Consider this edition of the SABR Nine a short look into the long career
of Marty Appel, who has spent over forty years exploring the truths that
baseball has to offer and revealing them to the public in the best
possible light.
How
did you get your start with the Yankees organization?
I
wrote to Bob Fishel in the summer of ’67 asking for any sort of a summer
job. My timing was perfect; he was besieged by cartons of unanswered
mail to Mickey Mantle and wanted to get them answered. So it was a good
letter, good timing, and I had a good background. Plus my interview went
well.
What
were some of the best and worst things about handling Mickey Mantle’s
fan mail?
Best
thing was saving up a few to go over with him personally. "Quality time"
with Mick. Worst was that eventually, it did get a bit boring. The
letters weren’t all that interesting: "Dear Mickey, You are my favorite
player, can you please send me an
autographed baseball."
You
were working in the Yankees public relations department when "Ball Four"
was published. What was your initial reaction and the mood in your
office when the book became popular?
My
initial reaction was of course influenced by the shock and outrage
within the baseball community, but I came to see it as one of the most
important books on baseball ever written, and many people today tell me
it is the book that made them fall in love with baseball. The lasting
impact doesn’t surprise me - it was a breakthrough book. It still reads
well.
You
directed public relations for the
The
Olympics had little to do with sports until the final days; the years
leading up to the games are all about politics, zoning, construction,
security, doping, transportation, housing, special interest groups, and
so on. Amateur sports today so closely resembles pro sports that the day
of the pure amateur elite athlete is gone. Little difference between pro
and amateur.
Of all
the baseball icons you have collaborated with on books, which one stands
out in your mind as the most memorable experience?
It was
fun to work with Thurman Munson on his book but my most memorable
experience would have been collaborating with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn on
his memoirs. It’s a very important book about his 17-year era when much
of what we know about baseball changed. The personal profiles of the
owners and MLB officials are fascinating. We did 100 hours on tape in
compiling the book.
As a
Thurman Munson biographer, how did the Cory Lidle tragedy affect you and
did you see parallels between the two events?
Not
only did the Lidle accident bring back sad memories, but that very
morning I was watching video of 1979 newscasts about Thurman’s accident,
in preparation for a new Munson project I’m embarking on. Not only that,
the two days before, I had been on the set of a new ESPN movie, "The
Bronx is Burning," with actor Erik Jensen, who plays Thurman and looks
just like him.
The
parallel I saw is that athletes, being athletes, generally are risk
takers and see themselves as indestructible.
In
your experience, how integral a component is public relations to the
appeal of the professional baseball game?
There
was a time when PR set the agenda for news coverage; what we gave to the
media was the day’s news. Now, the media sets the pace and PR tries to
keep up. But there are so many great things about baseball, that it’s
sometimes necessary to remind people of them, and that’s where
the PR role is so important. Craig Biggio is going to be a 3,000 hit guy
next year, imagine that. PR is needed to let everyone outside of
What
things have inspired you and how do you measure success as a sports
public relations professional?
I was
sitting in the upper deck above home plate for Game Six of the 1986
World Series. The Mets didn’t have a prayer but the fan on my left,
there all by himself and obviously devoted to the Mets, wouldn’t quit.
"We can do it, we can do it," he kept repeating out loud, almost in
tears. And hey, they did it. We’ve seen the replays 1000 times. And it
brought him such joy, that I never forget him when I think about
delivering this form of entertainment to the masses.
What
advice do you have for anyone trying to break in to sports communication
today?
Bring
the skills of a journalist with you. Talk the same language, understand
their world.
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By Marty Appel
The new Yankee Stadium opened
to pomp and circumstance Thursday, but the home team fell in blowout fashion to
(4/17/09) — On Opening Day of
the refurbished Yankee Stadium, April 15, 1976, it was nearly 90 degrees and of
course, I had overdressed, deeming it appropriate to wear a suit and tie on this
formal occasion. I was the PR director; I was the guy on the field trying to
make order out of 50 photographers and a long list of VIPs, coordinating the
introductions with hand signals to Bob Sheppard in the PA booth. All of my
“assistance” from stadium security had vanished, dispatched to Mr.
Steinbrenner’s office for his pregame party.
So there I was, alone on the field with Joe Louis,
Joe DiMaggio,
Mickey Mantle,
Yogi Berra,
Whitey Ford, Frank Gifford, Kyle Rote, Johnny Unitas, Weeb Ewbank and others
with Stadium pedigrees. Bob Shawkey, who pitched the 1923 opener, was on hand to
throw out the first pitch, and he was surrounded on the mound by
Mel Allen, the legendary “Voice of the Yankees;” by Pete Sheehy, the kindly
clubhouse manager who had been there since 1927; by Toots Shor, the restaurateur
whose eatery had been a second home to so many athletes; and by James Farley,
former postmaster general, head of the Haverstraw, N.Y. Democratic Party,
Haverstraw, N.Y., amateur baseball player, and season-ticket holder since ’23.
Whitey Witt stood at the plate –- he was the first Yankees batter in ’23.
Although recent publicity has called the remodeled Yankee Stadium inferior to
the original, at the time, almost everyone had glowing approval for the project.
Escalators, a video-replay scoreboard (which didn’t work on Opening Day), no
obstructed-view seating, modern-dining facilities, luxury boxes and a new sound
system all had kicked the aging park into modern times. The façade design, not
yet held in iconic status as it is today, graced the top of the bleacher
billboards. There wasn't seating in the left-field bleachers until it was
hastily installed prior to the ’76 ALCS, and thus the attendance of 54,010 was
less than the eventual capacity.
These thoughts were in my mind as I boarded the crowded D train at
Upon emerging from the subway Thursday, I the first view is not of the beautiful
new Stadium, but of the old one, over there to the left, experiencing the early
stages of demolition. I was very emotional when I attended the final game last
September, and this is yet another tug at my heartstrings. Sledgehammers are
doing their jobs along the bleacher walls, and within the next few months, the
concrete will be down, and the reality will really set in. I’ve been going there
since 1956. This is tough to see.
I was early enough to take a full walk around the new park. There are no
statues, as other teams have included, but plenty of signage and banners
remembering great Yankees:
Ruth to
Gehrig to DiMaggio to Mantle to Munson to Murcer to
Jackson to Mattingly to O'Neill to Williams to Jeter to Rivera to Sabathia.
Yes, to CC. Hey, he was going for his second Yankees win Thursday! And the first
rule of promoting your product is to promote the current product more than the
old.
It’s nice that
Everyone is in a festive mood, and there had been rumors in the last 24 hours of
not Yogi, but of President Obama -– or of Archbishop Dolan, newly installed just
Wednesday, handling the honors. The paper this morning said it would be Yogi,
which is just fine. He has been a loveable figure in this town since his 1946
debut 63 years ago. How do you stay so lovable so long? You have to be the real
deal, and he is. He's the most honorable, honest and genuine person you could
ever know. It is wonderful that he is still with us, just short of 84, to
perform this honor. Although he does move closer to home plate with each
ceremonial toss!
I arrived about two hours early and spent a lot of time photographing exterior
shots. I decided that the crossing of
I’m in Section 212, sitting with
Jeff Idelson, my pal for almost 20 years and the president of the Hall of
Fame. Like me, Jeff is a former Yankees PR director. The late Anne Mileo was
secretary to us both, and it’s a good day to remember Anne as well.
After receiving an Opening Day pin (sure to be a collectors item), I continued
taking photos inside, thinking, “What would we be wanting to see of 1923’s
opener if we could?”
So I shot concession-stand price signs, the restaurants, the signage and the
museum, complete with all its signed baseballs, statues of Yogi and Larsen and
the World Series trophies since 1977. I took a photo of the signed baseball of
journeyman catcher Sal Fasano, one of my son’s favorite players, and wondered
why I have no recollection of Frank Tanana ever being a Yankee.
The opening ceremonies were less tear-evoking than the final game last year, but
still a marvel. John Fogerty sang “Centerfield” (love it), Bernie Williams did
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on guitar (love him) and Kelly Clarkson performed
the national anthem. (She is a different person than Carrie Underwood, right?)
The old timers introduced were a mixed bag of memories –- good for the Yankees
to invite the much-maligned Horace Clark, and how good it was to see Jerry
Coleman, Whitey Ford and Bobby Brown, who, beside Mr. Berra, were the senior
citizens. The biggest hands were for the more recent players –- Williams,
O’Neill, Tino Martinez, David Cone, etc., probably because younger fans cheer
louder. Some of my favorites were there: Bobby Richardson, Moose Skowron, Ron
Blomberg, Luis Arroyo, Ralph Terry and Bob Turley. (I guess we’ll never see Jim
Bouton at such a gathering.) I wish Gene Michael had received a louder ovation,
if only for what he meant as a super scout in the early '90s, building the
Yankees dynasty of that decade.
To me, with a public-relations background, much of a fan's experience should be
about how many cheer moments their day at the ballpark provides. For example, I
was at the first exhibition game on April 3 against the Cubs.
Jeff and I then sat back and enjoyed a baseball game as two old friends should.
We commented on Sabathia's high pitch count and rolled our eyes at the
leather-lunged fan ahead of us who chose to stand and yell “hip hip ...” on
every pitch to Jorge Posada, so that everyone would follow with “Hor-HAY!”
Wasn’t it a supernatural act, that when Posada hit the first home run in the new
ballpark, our hero was off in the men's room or somewhere and missed it?
Jeff and I shared a lot of observations about the minutiae of the place -- the
placement of the monuments, the retired numbers, the out-of-town scoreboard,
even whether the PR department was correct to omit the 1974 opener at Shea
Stadium in the media packet that included
When the Indians got nine runs in one inning, the fans started to yell “We want
Swisher!” after Nick had pitched a shutout inning in the 15-5 loss Monday. That
was pretty funny, and I hope Nick heard it in right field.
Yankee Stadium traditions continued -– YMCA, three-card monte, the subway race,
Ronan Tynan doing "God Bless America," the bleacher bums' roll call, and of
course, the captain, Derek Jeter, being The Man. The fans love him, and he’s
worthy of it. As Mantle had been a hero to me, and then Don Mattingly to my son,
it’s wonderful that someone like Jeter has come along for this generation.
Baseball perpetuates itself.
It was a Yankees loss, but every team is going to lose 60 games, so you sort of
put that aside and move on if you’re a Yankees fan. Posada hitting the first
home run was big. The ballpark is a winner. And watching the game with a friend
is the best part of it all.
Following
the opener at Yankee Stadium, the following items were donated to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and will soon be on display in Cooperstown:
game-used ball signed by Indians starting pitcher Cliff Lee, spikes worn by
Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia and bat used by Indians center fielder
Grady Sizemore to hit a seventh-inning grand slam.