Mike Burke (executive)

Edmund Michael Burke

• School University of Pennsylvania
• High School Kingswood-Oxford School

• Born August 6, 1916 in Enfield, CT USA
• Died February 5, 1987 in Galway Ireland

Biographical Information

Mike Burke was President of the New York Yankees during the period when CBS was the team's owner in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a low-light in franchise history according to most fans. However, this was only one chapter in a very colorful life for him.

From a middle class family, he attended a private school on a football scholarship, which also got him into the University of Pennsylvania. He tried out unsuccessfully for the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL after graduating. He then joined the United States Navy after a brief stint selling marine insurance and was soon transferred to the Office of Special Services, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency, to work behind enemy lines. He had missions to Algeria and Sicily in 1942 and 1943, preparing for the Allied invasion of Italy, including the exfiltration of an Italian admiral who was a leader in the development of torpedo technology. He later parachuted into France to help the French Résistance, and received a number of medals for his service.

He worked briefly in Hollywood after the war, advising on movies based on his war experiences, and looked unsuccessfully for more permanent work in the industry. In 1948, he began working for the C.I.A. in Europe under the cover of being an executive for Warner Brothers. Upon his return to the U.S., he turned a friendship with Henry Ringling North, whom he had met in Europe, into an executive position for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was bleeding money and in a fight with corrupt employees, which eventually turned into a full-out conflict with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters union. He left that job to work for CBS, becoming director of its European operations before returning to America as Vice-President for Diversification - a big deal when conglomerates were all the rage in corporate America. After CBS purchased 80% of the Yankees for $11.2 million as part of that campaign in 1964, he replaced Dan Topping as team President on September 19, 1966 when Topping sold the remaining shares to CBS for an additional $2 million.

As mentioned, CBS's ownership corresponded with a downturn in the team's on-field fortunes. The first home game after Burke's installation, on September 22nd, was seen by the smallest crowd in Yankee Stadium history - 413. They did not reach the World Series a single time during the period and even finished in last place once - and ownership was proving to be a distraction for the media conglomerate. CBS President William S. Paley gave Burke an ultimatum in 1972: either buy the team himself or find an outside buyer, which he did by recruiting George Steinbrenner. Incredibly, CBS lost money on the deal, as the sale was for $10 million. He left his position as President when the sale was completed in April of 1973, pushed out in favor of Gabe Paul, who was from Cleveland, OH and a long-time friend of Steinbrenner's. He had been expecting to be kept on, but it turned out that promises from Steinbrenner were not to be taken as cash.

He was rumored to be a candidate to become the Commissioner of baseball after the sudden resignation of William Eckert in 1969 (prompted by a cabal of owners of which he was part); instead, the position when to lawyer Bowie Kuhn. One of his major achievements as Yankee President was to convince New York City Mayor John Lindsay to take over Yankee Stadium - which had somehow ended up being owned by Rice University of Houston, TX and was becoming derelict - under eminent domain and undertake major renovations, which took place in 1974 and 1975. This prevented a possible move to New Jersey which was a serious possibility by then.

After leaving the Yankees, Burke became President of Madison Square Gardens and of the New York Knicks of the NBA. He himself had a small five percent ownership stake in the Yankees, received as a finder's fee for getting Steibrenner to purchase the team, which he sold for $500,000 in 1981. After that, he retired on an estate he had bought in Ireland, from where his grandparents had come, and that is where he passed away from cancer in 1987.

Related Sites

• Michael Burke at the SABR Bio Project