George Martin Weiss (June 23, 1894 – August 13, 1972) was an American professional baseball executive. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, Weiss was one of the Major Leagues' most successful farm system directors and general managers during his 29-year-long tenure with the New York Yankees. Working as the head of the Yankees' player-development system from 1932 to 1947, he established it as one of the two best in the game, helping the "Bronx Bombers" win nine American League (AL) pennants and eight World Series championships over 16 seasons. Then, during Weiss' 13 full years as the Yankees' general manager from October to October , the team won ten AL pennants and seven more World Series titles, compiling a regular-season winning percentage of .622 (1,243–756). He later became the first club president of the New York Mets from to after that expansion franchise was formed. Early life and career Weiss was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and attended Yale University for a year before dropping out to help run his family's grocery store. In 1915, at age 20, he founded the New Haven MaxFeds in the independent Colonial League, an "outlaw" minor league associated with the Federal League. In , Weiss borrowed $5,000 to acquire the New Haven franchise in the established Class A Eastern League; his team was immediately nicknamed the Weissmen by local baseball writers. He operated the New Haven club, eventually nicknamed the Profs in tribute to Yale, for a decade; it won three league championships between 1920 and 1928. In 1930, Weiss took over the front office of the Baltimore Orioles of the Class AA International League for two seasons. New York Yankees Farm system director In , at 37, he was hired by Yankees' owner Jacob Ruppert and general manager Ed Barrow to build up the club's farm system, a concept that had been pioneered in the National League by the St. Louis Cardinals and was the linchpin of the Cardinals' dominance of the senior circuit. Weiss grew the Yankee system from four farm teams in 1931 to 16 by ; then, after a four-year retrenchment caused by World War II, to 20 by . Headed by the Yanks' longtime top affiliates, the Newark Bears and Kansas City Blues, it churned out many of the players who would lead the Bombers to 15 world championships through , including skeins of four (1936–39)