New York Yankees Club President/general Manager
Finally, in 1973, Paul sold his interest in the Indians and became part of Steinbrenner's Cleveland-based syndicate that purchased the Yankees from CBS. Installed as club president that year after the April departure of minority owner E. Michael Burke and the year-end departure of GM/interim president Lee MacPhail, Paul helped Steinbrenner rebuild the once-proud Yankees into a champion. The team won its first American League pennant in 12 years in 1976 and its first world championship since 1962 the following year.
The key to re-building the Yankees was a series of trades that Paul pulled off. He acquired in succession: Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Dick Tidrow and Oscar Gamble from his former team, the Indians; Lou Piniella from the Royals; Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa from the Angels; Willie Randolph, Ken Brett and Dock Ellis from the Pirates; and Bucky Dent from the White Sox. He also signed Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson as free agents.
Paul, whose nickname was the "Smiling Cobra" for his expertise in trades, had his enemies, among them influential Cleveland radio host Pete Franklin, who said of Paul, "Gabe was a master at working the room, of getting to know everybody and knowing where all the bodies are. The thing about Gabe was that while he did work for an owner, he always found a way to get a piece of the team himself. Then it became damn near impossible to fire him because he was part-owner. Gabe's greatest gift was the ability to take care of Gabe." The Yankees were able to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1977 World Series, Paul's only World Series victory.
The 1977 season, however, was Paul's last in the Bronx.
Read more about this topic: Gabe Paul
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