William Tweed

William Magear Tweed
(Boss)

• Born April 3, 1823 in New York, NY USA
• Died April 12, 1878 in New York, NY USA

Biographical Information

A political cartoon depicting Tweed's greed

William Tweed was credited for coming up with the idea of spring training in 1869, while working as a member of the New York Mutuals office. Prior to the season that year, he had sent the club to New Orleans, LA to practice. He was known to be a bit of a crummy fellow, due to the fact that he raised ticket prices through the roof for Mutuals home games (sometimes even raking in thousands of dollars worth of profit per game), as well as gambling and betting on the team. He was also involved with the Democratic Party's political supremacy in New York at the time and was a notorious political boss as part of Tammany Hall. It was said at the time that "nothing happened in New York City unless the Boss wanted it to."

He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1852 as well as the New York State Senate in 1867. He used his political roles to his own advantage, and in 1877 he was arrested for pocketing around $200 million worth of taxpayer dollars. He actually managed to escape from the Ludlow Street Jail once but was recaptured and died there a year later.

Further Reading

• George Bass: "The corrupt N.Y. congressman who was sentenced to prison — and escaped", The Washington Post, July 2, 2023. [1]

Related Sites

• Biography at the Encyclopedia of New York City
• "William 'Boss' Tweed and Political Machines" at the Bill of Rights Institute