13 Facts About Hank Peters

Henry John Peters was an American professional baseball executive who held senior management positions for the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1991.

Hank Peters was named The Sporting News Executive of the Year after both pennant-winning seasons.

In 2001, Hank Peters was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

Hank Peters then served as the sixth president in the history of the National Association, the umbrella group that governed the minor leagues, during a critical period.

Hank Peters's response was to encourage the creation of "co-op" teams that received players from multiple MLB clubs to keep the struggling leagues afloat.

Hank Peters was appointed executive vice president and general manager of the Baltimore Orioles on November 3,1975.

Hank Peters succeeded Frank Cashen, who had returned to team owner Jerold Hoffberger's Carling National Breweries, Inc as its senior vice president of marketing and sales.

The challenge that Hank Peters faced was maintaining the Orioles as perennial contenders despite the limited finances of both the ballclub and the brewery and the advent of free agency in MLB which was made possible by the Seitz decision overturning the reserve clause.

Hank Peters augmented that nucleus with a farm system that produced Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr.

In 2001, Hank Peters was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

Hank Peters brought John Hart from Baltimore to the Indians' organization as his hand-picked successor.

Hank Peters was married to the former Dorothy Kleimeier, with whom he had a daughter and a son, until her death in 2010.

Hank Peters died of complications from a stroke in Boca Raton, Florida on January 4,2015, aged 90.