Cool story from the Times’ City Room blog. The famous Yankees logo, which has long been credited to Henry Alonzo Keller, a sports illustrator from Bronxville, might actually be the product of a portraitist, Sam Friedman, who used to sketch patrons of the 21 Club. According to Friedman’s family, Friedman drew the logo in 1947 for Dan Topping, a co-owner of the Yankees who had just sidled up to the bar at the 21 Club.One day, Mr. Topping — who was a regular patron, along with his second wife, Sonja Henie, the Norwegian figure skater and actress — told Sam Friedman he wanted a logo that included the Yankees name, a bat, a ball and patriotic-themed top hat, but that the ad agencies he had already asked had produced nothing satisfactory. So goes the Friedman family story.When reached for comment, Tony Morante, the Yankees’ director of stadium tours, said Henry Keller has always been recognized as the logo’s creator.
Sam Friedman took out a pen and swiftly sketched a design on a cocktail napkin. He elongated a leg of the K in the word Yankees and made it a bat with a top hat on top. He drew the circumference of a baseball around it, said Jack Friedman, who provided a copy of a scrap upon which his great-uncle wrote the word “Yanks,” which he says strongly resembles the cursive of the logo.
Interestingly, Keller’s family claims the Mets later stole Henry’s logo, which he designed for the team and is still used today. And, since they are the Mets, a team spokesperson said they had no idea who designed the logo, even though, as one Times’ commenter pointed out, the Mets own website gives credit to cartoonist Ray Gatto.
Only in New York.
