Major League Baseball Franchise Owner. He was the flamboyant owner of three different Major League Baseball teams: the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Chicago White Sox; He also owned some minor league teams. His teams consistently broke attendance records by winning pennants, offering outrageous door prizes, having enthusiastic fan participation, and having ingenious promotional schemes. An innovative hustler and energetic maverick, he introduced to baseball a midget player, Eddie Gaedel, "Bat Day", fireworks, exploding scoreboards and player names on the back of their uniform. He signed the American League's first black player, Larry Doby in 1947, and the oldest rookie, 42-year-old Satchel Paige in 1948. Besides baseball, he was an ardent civil rights activist who was deeply involved in that movement in the 1960s. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Major League Baseball Franchise Owner. He was the flamboyant owner of three different Major League Baseball teams: the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Chicago White Sox; He also owned some minor league teams. His teams consistently broke attendance records by winning pennants, offering outrageous door prizes, having enthusiastic fan participation, and having ingenious promotional schemes. An innovative hustler and energetic maverick, he introduced to baseball a midget player, Eddie Gaedel, "Bat Day", fireworks, exploding scoreboards and player names on the back of their uniform. He signed the American League's first black player, Larry Doby in 1947, and the oldest rookie, 42-year-old Satchel Paige in 1948. Besides baseball, he was an ardent civil rights activist who was deeply involved in that movement in the 1960s. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Bio by: Ron Moody
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