51 Facts About Bill Veeck

Bill Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, the St Louis Browns, and the Chicago White Sox.

Bill Veeck was the last owner to purchase a baseball franchise without an independent fortune, and is responsible for many innovations and contributions to baseball.

Unable to compete in the new era of salary escalation ignited by arbitration and free agency, Bill Veeck sold his ownership interests in the White Sox after the 1980 season.

Bill Veeck was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1991.

Bill Veeck was born on February 9,1914, in Chicago.

In 1933, when his father died, Bill Veeck left Kenyon College and eventually became club treasurer for the Cubs.

In 1940, Bill Veeck left Chicago and, in a syndicate with former Cubs star and manager Charlie Grimm, purchased the Triple-A Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association.

Bill Veeck reported that the league passed a rule against it the very next day.

Bill Veeck had a series of wooden legs and, as an inveterate smoker, cut holes in them to use as an ashtray.

Bill Veeck had been a fan of the Negro leagues since his early teens.

Bill Veeck had admired Abe Saperstein's Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, which was based in Chicago.

Bill Veeck later wrote in his memoirs that he intended to buy the Phillies and stock the team's roster with stars from the Negro leagues.

Bill Veeck quickly secured financing to buy the Phillies, and agreed in principle to buy the team from Nugent.

Bill Veeck did not believe Landis would dare say black players were unwelcome while blacks were fighting in World War II.

However, when Veeck arrived in Philadelphia, he was surprised to discover that the National League had taken over the Phillies and was seeking a new owner.

The authors of a controversial article in the 1998 issue of SABR's The National Pastime argued that Bill Veeck invented the story of buying the Phillies and filling their roster with Negro leaguers, claiming Philadelphia's black press made no mention of a prospective sale to Bill Veeck.

We still lack any solid evidence that confirms that Bill Veeck had not only conceptualized this action, but made a firm offer to buy the Phillies and met a rebuff by Landis and Frick.

Bill Veeck immediately put all the team's games on radio.

Bill Veeck moved the team to Cleveland Municipal Stadium permanently in 1947.

However, Bill Veeck concluded that League Park, which had been built in its final form in 1910, was far too small and deteriorated to be viable.

Bill Veeck claimed later that the trade talks had already broken down before they became public, but he seized the opportunity to promote the concept he had dropped the idea of the trade in response to public outcry.

Famously, the following season Bill Veeck buried the 1948 flag, once it became mathematically certain the team could not repeat its championship in 1949.

One year later, Bill Veeck married his second wife Mary Frances Ackerman in 1950.

Bill Veeck had met her the previous year while in Cleveland.

Bill Veeck sent Gaedel to pinch hit in the bottom of the first inning of the second game of a double header.

At first, the only credible offers came from out-of-town interests, and it appeared that Bill Veeck would succeed in driving the Cardinals out of town.

Bill Veeck quickly realized that with Anheuser-Busch's wealth behind them, the Cardinals now had more financial resources than he could even begin to match, especially since he had no other source of income.

At first Bill Veeck considered moving the Browns back to Milwaukee.

Undaunted, Bill Veeck got in touch with a group that was looking to bring a major league franchise to Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1961, due to poor health, Bill Veeck sold his share of the White Sox to John and Arthur Allyn for $2.5 million.

Bill Veeck then moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland with his family to convalesce.

Bill Veeck tried to buy the Baltimore Orioles in 1974 but failed due to troubles with the IRS.

Bill Veeck was not heard from again in baseball ownership circles until 1975, when he repurchased the White Sox from John Allyn.

Bill Veeck's return rankled baseball's establishment, most owners viewing him as a pariah after exposing industry politics and maneuvering in his 1961 book Bill Veeck As In Wreck.

On December 16,1975, Bill Veeck's group purchased the team from Allyn.

Almost immediately after reassuming control of the Sox, Bill Veeck unleashed another publicity stunt.

Ironically Bill Veeck had been the only baseball owner to testify in support of Curt Flood during his landmark court case, at which Flood had attempted to gain free agency after being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bill Veeck had proposed a gradual transition to a free-agent system in which players would gain free agency rights after a certain amount of service time.

Bill Veeck unveiled radically altered uniforms for the players, including clamdigger pants and even shorts, which the Sox wore for the first time against the Kansas City Royals on August 8,1976.

Bill Veeck asked Caray to sing for the entire park, but he refused.

Bill Veeck replied that he already had a recording, so Caray would be heard either way.

Bill Veeck then sold the Sox to his second choice, Jerry Reinsdorf and partner Eddie Einhorn for $20 million.

When Einhorn stated his desire to make the White Sox a "high-class operation", Bill Veeck publicly transferred his allegiance back to the Chicago Cubs, the team his father had operated in his youth.

Bill Veeck retired to his home in Chicago but in summer could often be found in the Wrigley Field bleachers.

Bill Veeck wrote occasional articles for magazines and newspapers, usually opining on the overall state of baseball.

Bill Veeck had been a heavy smoker and drinker until 1980.

Bill Veeck was posthumously elected five years later to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bill Veeck was survived by his wife, Mary Frances, and eight of his nine children.

Bill Veeck was predeceased by his eldest child, William III, who died in 1985.

Mike Bill Veeck became owner of the independent minor-league St Paul Saints and still is a partner in the team.

Bill Veeck wrote three autobiographical works, each a collaboration with journalist Ed Linn.