Today in sports history

On this date 75 years ago, Tom Yawkey bought the Boston Red Sox. Yawkey was the sole owner of the Red Sox for 43 years, until his death in 1976. It was the longest anyone has been the sole owner of a team in major-league history.

In those 43 years?

World Series titles: Zero.

American League pennants: Three (1946, 1967 and 1975; they lost the World Series in seven games each time).

Racial record: Abysmal. The Red Sox didn't have a single black player until 1959, three years after Jackie Robinson retired.

Regardless, Yawkey was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1980, and Yawkey Way, on which Fenway Park is situated, is named for him. He was a popular man, and he served as American League vice president for 17 years. He willed a chain of islands off South Carolina to the U.S. Department of Natural Resources, and it's now known as the Yawkey Heritage Preserve.

Incidentally, Yawkey paid $1.2 million for the Red Sox in 1933, during the Depression. I've been unable to find a figure for how much the Crimson Hose's current owner, John Henry, paid for the club, but he previously owned the much-lesser-valued Florida Marlins, for which he forked over $158 million. So that gives us some idea where inflation, economic expansion and TV revenue have gotten us.