Chris von der Ahe
| Chris von der Ahe | |
|---|---|
von der Ahe, from a baseball card, 1887
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| Born |
October 7, 1851 Hille, Prussia |
| Died | June 5, 1913 (aged 61) St. Louis, Missouri |
| Occupation | Founder and Owner of St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), businessman, CEO, entrepreneur |
Christian Friedrich (or Frederick) Wilhelm von der Ahe (German: [fɔn dɐ ˈaːhə]; November 7, 1851 – June 5, 1913) was a German entrepreneur, best known as the owner of the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the American Association, now known as the St. Louis Cardinals.
Von der Ahe arrived in New York City but quickly moved to St. Louis, where he worked as a clerk in a grocery store. Later, he bought out the store owner and expanded business by establishing a saloon in the back of the store. Von der Ahe noticed that a number of his patrons visited the saloon after baseball games, so in 1882, he bought the bankrupt and scandal-ridden St. Louis Brown Stockings baseball franchise for $1,800 and joined the American Association baseball league. He named the team the Browns and hired future Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey to play first base and eventually manage the team.
Von der Ahe took a very active role in the team, even though he knew almost nothing about baseball. He was the first baseball owner with a significant public persona, the predecessor of Bill Veeck and Charlie Finley in this regard. With his thick German accent ("I am der poss bresident of der Prowns!") bushy mustache and showmanship, he was as much of a story as his players.
The Browns dominated the American Association, winning four straight league championships starting in 1885, and the baseball, beer, and other investments made von der Ahe wealthy. He made $500,000 off the baseball team alone. He set the ticket price at 25 cents, hoping fans would spend money on beer. As a result, the Browns led the league in attendance and soon had to expand his ballpark. The term fan (from fanatic) is sometimes attributed to von der Ahe.
In 1885, von der Ahe erected a larger-than-life statue outside of Sportsman's Park, not of any of his star players, but of himself. A sportswriter from Denver mockingly dubbed the statue "Von der Ahe discovers Illinois." Although eccentric, von der Ahe made a number of innovations, including operating a farm club called the St. Louis Whites. Also, tradition holds that von der Ahe was the first to sell hot dogs at the ballpark, although some historians dispute this. Von der Ahe billed himself as the "Millionaire Sportsman".
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