What did David Bowie have to do with the New York Yankees website?
Bowie founded an internet company that, in 1999, created a website for the most famous team in American sports.
By
Dave Brown
•
1 min read
Looking into the future won't be the same without David Bowie. He was a visionary guy who always seemed to be ahead of the curve. Bowie died Monday at age 69 from cancer, and he leaves an irreplaceable gap in entertainment that reached into spaces most of us might not have realized.
For example: He was instrumental in the New York Yankees developing their own website before MLB Advanced Media formed. Yes, that David Bowie. Here's what MTV wrote about the venture in 1999:
UltraStar, the Internet company founded by rocker David Bowie, has created a new official website for the New York Yankees (www.yankees.com). Like Bowie’s own BowieNet service (www.davidbowie.com), the Yankees offer fans dial-up Internet access and membership in an online fan club.
"We couldn't be more pleased to be working with the premier team in all of sports,” Bowie said in a statement. "We hope to deal with one of the most profound unanswered questions in all of sports: Paul O'Neill can play drums, Bernie Williams can play guitar, but who's on bass?"
The man obviously loved his puns!
The New York Daily News had more details about the Yankees' side of things with Bowie, and The Guardian has a much more replete look at Bowie's internet adventure if that's what you're into. Shorter version: David Bowie and Al Gore: Godfathers of the internet!
More germane to baseball fans is this: Did Bowie ever actually play baseball? The answer, thank goodness, is yes:
From Rolling Stone, also in '99:
BowieNet does the Web site for the Yankees. Are you a baseball fan?
Well! It's legendary, my connection with baseball, surely. You mean to tell me you don't know? Actually, there is a true thing there, somewhere. When I was fourteen, I was a member of a group of expatriate Canadians who had a team called the Dulwich Blue Jays, and they'd play on weekends, and I used to play outfield for them. So I have worn the mitt.
The coolest Bowie factoid yet! May his family, friends and fans find peace.
