William Baker (owner)

William Frazer Baker

• Born April 1866 in Pittsburgh, PA USA
• Died December 4, 1930 in Montreal, QC CAN

Biographical Information

William Baker was the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1913 until his death in 1930. He originally purchased the team from the widow of his cousin William Locke, who died on August 14, 1913.

Baker served as Police Commissioner of New York, NY in 1909 and 1910, having been appointed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. In January of 1913, he was a minority investor in the group led by his cousin that purchased the Phillies from Horace Fogel, who was banned from baseball for making disparaging remarks about umpires. He was voted Team President in October, a few months after Locke's death.

The Phillies reached the World Series for the first time in team history in 1915, but quickly sank into the second division after that. Baker was known for being extremely stingy: he reduced the scouting staff to just one person and, in order not to have to pay a grass cutter, used sheep to keep the grass short at National League Park. The team's home ballpark became badly outdated and decrepit, and would earn the derisive nickname "Baker Bowl" from journalists. He sold off a number of stars in order not to increase their salaries, most prominently future Hall of Famers Grover Cleveland Alexander, following the 1917 season, and Dave Bancroft. At one stretch, the Phillies had a losing record in 30 of 31 seasons, although he was long gone by the time the streak ended.

He died of a heart attack while attending a league meeting in Montreal, QC and was succeeded by Gerry Nugent. A few years earlier, in 1923, on his way to the league meetings in Chicago, IL, he had escaped death when the train in which he was riding was wrecked. Former major leaguer and minor league manager Wild Bill Donovan was killed in the crash and executive George Weiss escaped as well with a minor injury.

Related Sites

• Find-a-Grave page