Lou Niss

Lou Niss
born Louis Nisonoff

• High School Flushing (NY) High School

• Born October 5, 1903 in Minsk Belarus
• Died April 30, 1987 in New York, NY USA

Biographical Information

Lou Niss was the first person ever hired by the New York Mets when they were created as part of the expansion of 1962. He served as the team's traveling secretary from 1962 to 1980. Prior to that he had been a sportswriter for the Brooklyn Eagle, becoming sports editor in 1941 and forming a close relationship with Branch Rickey. He gave the Mahatma enthusiastic support in his prohject to integrate Major League Baseball by bringing up Jackie Robinson in 1947. The Eagle folded in 1955, preceding the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers by a couple of years, and Lou spent the following years doing public relations for the Yonkers Raceway, and then for Rickey's project of creating a third major league, the Continental League.

Related Sites

• Lou Niss at the SABR Bio Project