William Baker was the owner of the
Philadelphia Phillies of the
National League from through . In 1913,
Baker purchased the club from
Horace
Fogel after Fogel was banned from baseball. He was at the helm
two years later when the Phillies played in the
1915 World Series.
Baker was known for being extremely tight-fisted.
For most of his tenure
as owner, the Phillies had only one scout, and used a flock of
sheep to trim the grass at Baker Bowl
, which was named for him. He was so
tight-fisted that he traded star pitcher
Grover Cleveland Alexander to the
St. Louis Cardinals in rather
than increase his salary. Within a year, the Phillies had fallen to
last placeāthe first of 15 straight years (and 29 out of 30)
without a winning record.
He died in 1930 and was succeeded as Phillies owner by
Gerald Nugent.
References
Philadelphia Phillies owners