Howard Charles Lincoln was born on February 14, 1940. He is an American lawyer and businessman. He served as the former chairman of Nintendo of America. He also worked as the former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. During his time in this role, he represented Hiroshi Yamauchi, the team’s owner who lived far away. Lincoln held this position until Yamauchi passed away on September 19, 2013.
Early life
Lincoln was born in Oakland, California, and was an active Boy Scout. At the age of thirteen, he was featured in the well-known painting The Scoutmaster by Norman Rockwell. This painting was included in a calendar published in 1956. In the artwork, young Lincoln is positioned just to the right of a campfire. Later, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout and was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
In 1957, Lincoln enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1962 and received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1965. From 1966 to 1970, he worked as a lieutenant in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. After leaving the Navy, he practiced law as a private attorney in Seattle, Washington.
Nintendo
In 1981, Lincoln worked on legal matters for Nintendo, which led to a court case called Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. In this case, Universal City Studios claimed that the video game Donkey Kong violated their rights to King Kong. Lincoln hired John Kirby to represent Nintendo in court. Nintendo won the case and also won later appeals.
In 1982, Lincoln met Yamauchi and joined Nintendo in 1983 as its Senior Vice President and General Counsel. He and Minoru Arakawa helped rebuild the North American video game industry after the crash of 1983 by successfully marketing the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1994, Lincoln became chairman of Nintendo.
As Vice President of Nintendo, Lincoln was involved in lawsuits with Tengen, a company owned by Atari Games, over the rights to Tetris. He also defended Nintendo’s use of the 10NES lock-out chip. In 1993, he spoke during United States Senate hearings about video games. During these hearings, he promised Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl that Nintendo would not release the game Night Trap on its consoles because it was considered unsuitable for children.
Lincoln announced his retirement from Nintendo in 1999 and left the company in 2000.
Seattle Mariners
In September 1999, Lincoln became the CEO of the Seattle Mariners. He was the main person responsible for making decisions on behalf of the team’s majority investor, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Until 2008, Yamauchi focused strongly on the team pursuing three players: Kazuhiro Sasaki, Ichiro Suzuki, and Kenji Johjima. Lincoln hired Pat Gillick to be the general manager for the 2000 season.
During Lincoln’s time as CEO, the Mariners had both successes and challenges. He worked with former senator Slade Gorton to help keep the team in Seattle and to negotiate the construction of a new stadium, Safeco Field. Under his leadership, the team made its first playoff appearances in 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2001. He also helped expand the Mariners’ presence in Japan, especially through the signing of Japanese star player Ichiro Suzuki.
Lou Piniella left after the 2002 season, and Pat Gillick left the following year. Before leaving, Piniella said, “I like Howard personally. I enjoyed working with him. He’s a bright guy, a charming guy. But he wants total control. Pat wants to win. Howard just doesn’t know how.” Lincoln disagreed, saying he trusted those who worked as general managers. He replaced Piniella with Bob Melvin and Gillick with Bill Bavasi, though he later said he regretted hiring Bavasi. In 2002, the Mariners had their first season without a playoff appearance in years. Lincoln explained the team’s goal as not to win the World Series at any cost but to build a team that could compete for championships regularly.
From 2003 to 2016, the Mariners had nine different managers under Lincoln’s leadership, but none of them led the team to the playoffs. Lincoln was reported to have kept a notebook of insults directed at him until 2004. In April 2016, Lincoln retired as CEO, at the same time that Nintendo sold most of its ownership in the team.
Philanthropy
In addition to his work in business, Lincoln is known for helping others. He has led fundraising efforts for United Way of King County and the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He also serves on the board of Western Washington University.