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{{short description|American business executive and baseball team owner}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bill Yawkey
| image = William_H._Yawkey.jpeg
| image_size = 150
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|8|22}}
| birth_place = [[Bay City, Michigan]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|3|5|1875|8|22}}
| death_place = [[Augusta, Georgia]], U.S.
| occupation = * Business executive in lumber and mining
* Owner of the [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1904}}–{{mlby|1919}})
| awards =
| family = [[Tom Yawkey]] <small>(nephew)</small>
}}
'''William Hoover Yawkey''' (August 22, 1875 – March 5, 1919) was an American business executive in the lumber and mining industries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/568693429 |title=Draft Registration Care |publisher=[[Selective Service System]] |date=September 1918 |via=fold3.com |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 21, 2020}}</ref> He was the sole owner of the [[Detroit Tigers]] of the [[American League]] from 1903 through 1908, and majority owner from 1908 to 1919.<ref name=SABR/>

==Biography==
Yawkey was the son of wealthy [[Michigan]] lumber tycoon William Clyman Yawkey.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59700905/passing-of-a-pioneer/ |title=Passing of a Pioneer |newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]] |page=1 |date=November 24, 1903 |access-date=September 21, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> The elder Yawkey agreed to buy the Tigers from [[Samuel F. Angus]] in 1903, but died before the deal closed.<ref name=SABR/> [[Frank Navin]], then the Tigers' bookkeeper and vice president, persuaded the younger Yawkey to complete the deal.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Team-by-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball |last=Purdy |first=Dennis |year=2006 |publisher=[[Workman Publishing Company|Workman]] |location=New York City |isbn=0-7611-3943-5 }}</ref>

Yawkey took little interest in the Tigers, leaving day-to-day control in Navin's hands.<ref name=SABR/> In 1908, Yawkey sold almost half of the club's stock to Navin, effectively making Navin a full partner.<ref name=SABR>{{Sabrbio|dba7471c|Frank Navin|Marc Okkonen and David Jones|October 17, 2013}}</ref>
Yawkey died in [[Augusta, Georgia]], in 1919 from the [[Spanish flu]]. He was interred in a family lot in [[Brattleboro, Vermont]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59813935/body-brought-to-brattleboro/ |title=Body Brought to Brattleboro |newspaper=[[St. Albans Messenger]] |location=[[St. Albans (city), Vermont|St. Albans, Vermont]] |page=3 |date=March 15, 1919 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>{{efn|Online photos at [[Find a Grave]] suggest that he has been re-interred within a Yawkey mausoleum in [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)]].}} Following Yawkey's death, Navin bought additional stock from the Yawkey estate, raising his stake to 50 percent; he would remain the Tigers' principal owner until his own death in 1935.<ref name=SABR/>

Yawkey left his $40 million estate to his nephew and adoptive son, [[Tom Yawkey]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59701946/millions-in-sight-for-a-youth-of-14/ |title=Millions in Sight for a Youth of 14 |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=9 |date=March 7, 1919 |access-date=September 21, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> who later bought the [[Boston Red Sox]].

A boathouse that Yawkey had constructed in 1917 in [[Hazelhurst, Wisconsin]], was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/44ce816c-af35-48d3-8ee7-32d831cfecd9 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=November 20, 2009 |page=8:4 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=NPS.gov}}</ref>
{{main|William H. Yawkey Boathouse}}

A cousin, [[Cyrus C. Yawkey]], owned a lumber business and was a politician in Wisconsin.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59812579/w-h-yawkey-dead/ |title=W. H. Yawkey Dead |newspaper=[[Wausau Daily Herald]] |page=3 |date=March 6, 1919 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.mlb.com/tigers/history/owners Detroit Tigers owners]
*{{find a Grave|190925373}}

{{Detroit Tigers owners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yawkey, Bill}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bay City, Michigan]]
[[Category:American business executives]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball owners]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers owners]]
[[Category:Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]

Bill Yawkey - Revision history

imported>Jweiss11: /* References */ cleanup