[3] In that role, Patterson supervised such innovations as the annual "Old-Timers' Day" at Yankee Stadium in 1947 (created to raise funds for the Babe Ruth Foundation, a charity formed that year by the gravely ill slugger to help under-privileged children),[4] team yearbooks, and "Cap Day",[5] one of the earliest examples of logo-bearing sports apparel merchandising—an idea initially scorned by his employers, the Yankees, themselves.
[5] Born in Long Island City, in the borough of Queens, Patterson initially worked as a journalist while he attended night classes to earn a degree from New York University.
As a baseball "beat writer" for the New York Herald-Tribune, he was a chronicler of Lou Gehrig's historic May 2, 1939, decision in Detroit to take himself out of the Yankees' lineup after playing 2,130 consecutive games.
Then, after a year, he was hired by the promotions-conscious president of the Yankees, Larry MacPhail, where, placed in charge of the Bombers’ publicity department, his creative instincts were at first given full rein.
However, by the early 1950s, Patterson found himself having to defend his "Cap Day" brainchild to MacPhail's staid successor as the Yankees’ front-office boss, George Weiss.
"[3] Patterson's final achievement in baseball came in 1975, when he was appointed the second team president in Angels franchise history by owner Gene Autry.