Philip K. Wrigley

Philip Knight Wrigley

• School University of Chicago
• High School Phillips Academy
• Born December 5, 1894 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died April 12, 1977 in Elkhorn, WI USA

Biographical Information

Philip K. Wrigley was a chewing gum mogul and the longtime owner of the Chicago Cubs. He inherited the club when his father, William Wrigley Jr., died in 1932. He was not an avid baseball fan but did not sell the team in honor of his father. He considered himself an innovator in the field of business, however, and tried to adapt some new methods in baseball as well, for example by hiring sports psychologist Coleman Griffith to work with the team from 1938 to 1940.

At first, he did not want to play an active part in running the club, leaving most of the decision-making to William Veeck. When Veeck died in October of 1933, he had long-time minority stockholder and Vice-President William Walker installed as President in January of 1934, but replaced him the following October after Walker had made a number of trades that proved unpopular with the media. He let manager Charlie Grimm make all baseball decisions at first, and the team had a very successful run in the following years, reaching the World Series in 1935 and 1938. However, after returning to the Fall Classic one last time in 1945, the Cubs went on an extended drought that lasted for the remainder of his term as owner.

He was often criticized for the way he ran the club and his refusal to install lights in Wrigley Field. Mike Royko was critical of his hesitation to integrate and make the Cubs more competitive in the late 1940s and in the early 1950s. Beginning in 1961, Wrigley replaced the position of manager with a "College of Coaches", but the plan was abandoned within a few years when it showed no sign of success. After his death in 1977, his family, led by his son Bill Wrigley, sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company.

Related Sites

• Philip Wrigley at the SABR Bio Project