Edwin McAlpin

Edwin Augustus McAlpin

• High School Phillips Academy

• Born June 9, 1848 in Ossining, NY USA
• Died April 12, 1917 in Ossining, NY USA

Biographical Information

Edwin McAlpin was a prominent business and military leader in post-Civil War New York City who served as president of the Players League during its only season.

He was the son of a prominent tobacco manufacturer from Ossining, NY. While still a young teenager, he tried enlisting with the Union Army in the Civil War as a drummer boy. However, his father rescinded his enlistment and he had to wait until the end of the war to join the New York militia (the future State Guard), attaining the rank of colonel. As the commanding officer, he reorganized a force that was in shambles and in danger of being disbanded, turning it into a working regiment by the time he retired in 1887. He was then appointed Adjutant General of the State by Governor Levi Morton, with the rank of General, playing a role in suppressing several civil disorders. He was also active in Republican Party politics and was even considered a potential Vice-Presidential candidate for William McKinley in 1896. He served as President of the Republican League of New York and mayor of his hometown of Ossining.

In addition to the family business, he married a rich heiress and owned several large tracts of land in Manhattan, NY. On one of these, he built the Hotel McAlpin, which was the largest hotel in the world at the time it opened in 1912. He served on the boards of numerous corporations and was a prominent member of the local chamber of commerce. Towards the end of his life he was elected President and Chief Scout of the American Boy Scouts.

His involvement in baseball came as a financial backer of the New York Giants of the Players League, which was formed late in 1889, alongside principal owners Edward Talcott and Cornelius Van Cott and players Tim Keefe and Buck Ewing, both prominent leaders of the "Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players". On December 16th of that year, he was elected the league President for a one-year term at the league's founding meeting; he had helped draft the league statutes, including the standard player contract that did not contain the hated reserve clause. In spite of his considerable other interests, he was an active president and while the league was successful in putting together an excellent on-field product, it sustained massive financial losses due to the three-way competition with the National League and the American Association, which emerged mortally wounded from the war of the three leagues. Settlement talks with the National League began in September, and he was largely kept out of them by Talcott. At a league meeting in October, he fully endorsed Talcott's efforts and offered his resignation, while a number of league franchises also tendered their resignation. Charles Prince was chosen to succeed him, but his mandate ended up simply being the winding down of the league's activities.

Other franchise owners viewed Talcott and McAlpin as traitors who had sold out to the National League, but the writing was clearly on the wall and there was no way the league could have continued for a second season. While most of the investors in the league lost everything, Talcott ended up as a senior executive of the NL's New York Giants on behalf of nominal owner John B. Day. McAlpin, while he had said he would no longer be involved in baseball, was part of its board of governors. However, Talcott eventually tired of the job and in 1895 arranged for the sale of the Giants to Andrew Freedman, at which point McAlpin sold his shares as well and was truly out of baseball for good.

Related Sites

• Edwin A. McAlpin at the SABR Bio Project