Bob McRoy

Robert R. McRoy

• Born c. 1882
• Died December 3, 1917 in Milwaukee, WI USA

Biographical Information

Bob McRoy was the secretary of the American League under league President Ban Johnson. On September 15, 1911, Johnson arranged for McRoy and former Washington Senators manager Jimmy McAleer to buy half of the shares of the Boston Red Sox for $150,000 (John I. Taylor owned the remaining shares), at the same time clearing the way for Clark Griffith to acquire a controling interest in the Senators. This was all part of Johnson's strategy to solidify the ownership structures of the various franchises in the league, some of which had been created on a very tenuous basis when the league became a major league in 1901.

McRoy's turn as an owner was brief one, and he was mainly there to assist McAleer who was a baseball man and not an administrator. In 1913, the team was sold to Joseph Lannin for a handsome profit, and McRoy returned to his previous functions as assistant to Ban Johnson. In 1916, he helped put together a syndicate headed by James Dunn to buy the Cleveland Indians from Charles Somers for $500,000. He was rewarded for his work by being named the Indians' Vice-President and General Manager but passed away only a year later. He had reportedly suffered a major nervous breakdown during the final days of the 1917 season, the result of being too passionately involved in the on-field fortunes of his team, and never recovered. He was only 35. He was replaced on the Indians by Ernest Barnard.