Henry Pennypacker

Henry Clay Pennypacker

• Born June 20, 1847 in Phoenixville, PA USA
• Died November 15, 1922 in Philadelphia, PA USA

Biographical Information

Henry Pennypacker was part of a prominent Pennsylvania family, as his brother Samuel W. Pennypacker served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907 and the family home, known as "Pennypacker Mills" in Schwenksville, PA is in the National Register of Historic Places. He became principal owner of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association on November 1, 1887 when he purchased the team from Bill Sharsig, Lew Simmons and Charlie Mason, who stayed on as minority owners. In the first club assembly after the sale in January 1888, he was elected as the team President.

He vowed to bring "sound business principles" to the running of the club, but larger trends were working against him. The 1890 season was marred by the all-out war between the two established major leagues, the National League and the American Association, against the upstart Players League started by the Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, with all sides experiencing significant financial losses as a result. The Players League folded after that season, but the American Association stumbled on for only one more year before being forced to merge with the National League on the senior circuit's terms. The Athletics were dissolved as a result and thus ended Pennypacker's involvement with baseball.

He married Clara Kames in 1883 and had one son, Joseph Whitaker Pennypacker, born in 1887. As of the 1920 census, he was living in Schuylkill Township, PA. He died in Philadelphia, PA two years later.