Dan Topping

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Daniel Reid Topping (June 11, 1912 - May 18, 1974) was a part owner and president of the New York Yankees baseball team from 1945 to 1964. Topping, along with Del Webb and Larry MacPhail, purchased the Yankees for $2.8 million from the estate of the late Jacob Ruppert on January 25, 1945. MacPhail sold his share of the team to Topping and Webb in 1947, and the two sold controlling interest in the team to CBS in 1964, after which Topping remained as team president until 1966, when he sold his remaining stake in the Yankees.

Topping also was an owner of the National Football League's Brooklyn Dodgers starting in 1931, eventually owning the team outright. By the mid-1940s, Topping wished to move his football team from Ebbets Field into the newer and larger Yankee Stadium. Tim Mara, owner of the New York Giants, who played in the Polo Grounds, held NFL territorial rights, and refused to permit this. Not to be denied, Topping moved his team anyway, joining the newly formed All-America Football Conference. Topping's team retained most of its players during the jump and became the football New York Yankees. The team was not one of the AAFC teams admitted to the NFL in 1950, and folded.

Topping was married to Olympic champion Sonja Henie from 1940 to 1946, one of his five marriages. He died of complications from a lung ailment in Miami Beach, Florida at age 61, while married to Charlotte Topping.