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William Louis Veeck Jr. ( VECK; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill" and "Wild Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns, and the Chicago White Sox. As owner and team president of the Indians in 1947, Veeck signed Larry Doby, thus beginning the integration of the American League, and the following year won a World Series title. 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, Veeck sold his ownership interests in the White Sox after the 1980 season. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1991. Early life Bill Veeck was born on February 9, 1914, in Chicago. While Veeck was growing up in Hinsdale, Illinois, his father, William Veeck Sr., became president of the Chicago Cubs. Veeck Sr. was a local sports writer who wrote numerous columns about how he would run the Cubs differently, and the team's owner, William Wrigley Jr., took him up on the implied offer. While growing up, the younger Veeck worked as a popcorn vendor for the Cubs and also as a part-time concession salesman for the crosstown Chicago White Sox. Later, in 1937, he came up with the idea of planting ivy on the walls of Wrigley Field. Veeck attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In 1933, when his father died, Veeck left Kenyon College and eventually became club treasurer for the Cubs. In 1935, he married his first wife, Eleanor. Franchise owner Minor League Baseball Milwaukee Brewers In 1940, Veeck left Chicago and, in a syndicate with former Cubs star and manager Charlie Grimm, purchased the then-struggling Triple-A Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. After winning three pennants in five seasons Veeck sold his Milwaukee franchise in 1945 for a $275,000 profit. According to his autobiography Veeck – As in Wreck, Veeck claimed to have installed a screen to make the right field target a little more difficult for left-handed pull hitters of the opposing team. The screen was on wheels, so any given day it might be in place or not, depending on the batting strength of the opposing team. There was no rule against that activity as such, but Veeck then took it to an extreme, rolling it out when the opponents batted, and pulling it back when the Brewers batted. Veeck reported that the league passed a rule against it the very next day. However, extensive research by two members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) suggests that this story was made up or certainly exaggerated by Veeck. The two researchers could not find any references to a moveable fence or any reference to the gear required for a moveable fence to work. While a co-owner of the Brewers, Veeck served for nearly three years in the United States Marine Corps during World War II in an artillery unit. During this time a recoiling artillery piece crushed his right leg, requiring amputation first of the foot, and shortly after of the leg above the knee. Over the course of his life he had 36 operations on the leg. He had a series of wooden legs and, as an inveterate smoker, cut holes in them to use as ashtrays. Veeck also used the wooden leg in props such as a recreation of iconic Revolutionary War soldiers during the Bicentennial year of 1976. At other times, engaged in intensive trade talks with competing owners, Veeck would complain they were demanding "an arm and a leg" in negotiations, then unbuckle the leg and throw it on the desktop for dramatic effect. Major League Baseball Attempted purchase of Philadelphia Phillies Veeck had been a fan of the Negro leagues since his early teens. He had also admired Abe Saperstein's Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, which was based in Chicago. Saperstein saved Veeck from financial disaster early on in Milwaukee by giving him the right to promote the Globetrotters in the upper Midwest in the winter of 1941–42. In the fall of 1942, Veeck met with Gerry Nugent, president of the Philadelphia Phillies, to discuss the possibility of buying the struggling National League team. He later wrote in his memoirs that he intended to buy the Phillies and stock the team's roster with stars from the Negro leagues. Although no formal rules barred African-American players from the majors, none had appeared in organized baseball since the 1890s. Veeck quickly secured financing to buy the Phillies, and agreed in principle to buy the team from Nugent. While on his way to Philadelphia to close on the purchase, Veeck decided to alert MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis of his intentions. 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 Phillies were ultimately sold to lumber baron William D. Cox). The authors of a controversial article in the 1998 issue of SABR's The National Pastime argued that 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 Veeck. Subsequently, the article was criticized by historian Jules Tygiel, who reviewed it point-by-point in an article in the 2006 issue of SABR's The Baseball Research Journal, and in an appendix, entitled "Did Bill Veeck Lie About His Plan to Purchase the '43 Phillies?", published in Paul Dickson's biography, Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick. In the SABR article, Tygiel explained that Veeck and others had mentioned the alleged scheme to buy and stock the Phillies up to fifteen years before the publication of Veeck's memoir, but conceded that, "In all of these accounts the only voice telling the story remains Veeck's." The Tygiel article also conceded, "The overall assessment of Jordan, et al. - that Veeck's notion of buying the Phillies and fielding a team of Negro League stars never quite moved as far from the drawing board as Veeck claimed - may still be true. We still lack any solid evidence that confirms that Veeck had not only conceptualized this action, but made a firm offer to buy the Phillies and met a rebuff by Landis and (then-National League president Ford) Frick." Cleveland Indians In 1946, having sold his interest in the Class AAA Milwaukee Brewers, Veeck became the owner of a major league team, the Cleveland Indians. He immediately put all the team's games on radio (previously, only limited games had been broadcast). He also moved the team to Cleveland Municipal Stadium permanently in 1947. The team had split their games between the larger Municipal Stadium and the smaller League Park since the 19.... Discover the Tyler Dean Omoth popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tyler Dean Omoth books.