Showing results by author "William Cook" in Biographies & Memoirs

Mention the name Niccolò Machiavelli and you might unleash a powerful response-even among people who have never read a word of his writing. The word "Machiavellian" conjures up images of an indistinct figure quietly making his way through the darkest corridors of power; a cold-blooded political liar; or a coolly practical leader - amoral at best - willing to do whatever is necessary in a world governed not by ideas of right or wrong, but by solutions dictated by realpolitik.

He started out as a bat boy. Then a newspaper correspondent. A press agent. A traveling secretary. A general manager. A vice president. A president. And then part-owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt 45s, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Twice Gabe Paul was named Major League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News, only the fifth baseball executive to win the award more than once.

Following the 1956-57 NBA season, the Fort Wayne Pistons relocated to Detroit, and the Rochester Royals were moved to Cincinnati. The relocations of the Fort Wayne and Rochester franchises left Syracuse as the last small market team in the NBA.

Mike Burke arguably led one of the most interesting lives in twentieth century America. It seems that it was his destiny to have a rendezvous with history at every turn in his seventy years. The people that became his friends, associates and adversaries read like a who’s – who of America in the middle years of the twentieth century.