Marty Appel

Martin E. Appel (born August 7, 1948) is an American public relations and sports management executive, television executive producer, baseball historian and author.

Appel served as Public Relations Director for the New York Yankees from 1973 to 1977. He has written over 20 books, including Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss and Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character. Appel is a two-time winner of the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year, for his biographies of King Kelly and Casey Stengel.

Early life and education Appel was born in Brooklyn, New York

He graduated from State University of New York at Oneonta in 1970. He obtained a degree in political science and journalism.

Career

Sports public relations and management Appel began his career in baseball while a student, after writing to then-New York Yankees public relations chief Bob Fishel. Appel began his tenure with the Yankees in 1968 at age 19, handling fan mail for Mickey Mantle. In 1970, he became at 21 the Yankees Assistant Public Relations Director. He was named Public Relations Director of the team in 1973 by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, becoming at 23 the youngest PR Director in Major League Baseball history, and remained in that position for four years.

After resigning in early 1977, and starting a sports management company, Appel handled public relations for the New York Apples of World Team Tennis, a team featuring Billie Jean King and Vitas Gerulaitis. When the league folded, he joined the staff of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. The PR agency included mostly sports clients, but it also had clients in fields such as publishing, medicine, and not-for-profit.

In 2007, Appel led the public relations efforts for the short-lived Israel Baseball League which debuted and shut down that same year. He also produced pre-season football telecasts for the New York Giants and New York Jets. and a consultant to the 2001 HBO production 61*, directed by Billy Crystal.

Writing career Appel has written over 20 books, including a biography of baseball player King Kelly, and children's biographies of Yankees Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. He ghostwrote autobiographical books for umpire Eric Gregg, TV and radio talk show host Larry King, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, baseball executive Lee MacPhail, and baseball players Thurman Munson (Thurman Munson: An Autobiography) and Tom Seaver, and wrote a biography of Munson (Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain) published in 2009 and became a New York Times bestseller. His Now Pitching for the Yankees (2002) was ESPN's best New York baseball book of the year.

Appel's biographies of King Kelly and Casey Stengel earned him the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year in 1996 and 2017, respectively.

Appel served as Editor-at-Large for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's magazine, Memories & Dreams, and helped write the text on the plaques of Hall of Fame inductees. He has contributed to publications including Sports Collectors Digest, Yankees Magazine, and Encyclopedia Americana.

Boards of directors and honors Appel served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, was a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Sports Museum and Hall of Fame and New York Transit Museum, and was a member of the Advisory Council to the Israel Baseball League.

Personal life Appel married Lourdes Appel in June 2009, with the service being performed by Larchmont, New York, Mayor Liz Feld with Rabbi Jeff Sirkman participating.

Appel lived in Larchmont for 20 years, and also lived in Spring Valley, in Riverdale, and in Manhattan.