Larry MacPhail

Early life

Larry MacPhail came into the world on February 3, 1890, in Cass City, Michigan. His father established the State Savings Bank of Scottville in 1882 and went on to found twenty more small banks across Michigan. MacPhail earned a law degree from George Washington University, where he became friends with Branch Rickey.

After a stint at a Chicago law firm, he managed a Nashville department store before World War I. During the war, he served as an artillery captain in France and Belgium. In January 1919, he joined Colonel Luke Lea on an unauthorized trip to Amerongen, Netherlands, hoping to capture the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II for war crimes. MacPhail swiped one of the Kaiser's ashtrays and was officially reprimanded for the mission.

Entry into baseball

After military service, MacPhail opened a law office in Columbus, Ohio, and purchased an interest in the Columbus Red Birds, a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. As president of the Red Birds, he devised a geographically based playoff system for the American Association championship, which lasted only two years. In 1933, recommended by Branch Rickey, he was hired as chief executive and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. After leaving the Reds, he spent about a year with his father's investment business before becoming executive vice-president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938.

He was promoted to team president on May 4, 1939, a position vacant since Stephen McKeever's death. In 1939, he received The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award. MacPhail was instrumental in developing sportscaster Red Barber and introduced nighttime baseball, regular game televising, and flying teams between cities. He resigned as Dodgers president on September 23, 1942, to accept a U.S. Army commission, attaining the rank of colonel by war's end.

Returning, he served as president, co-owner, and general manager for the New York Yankees. MacPhail was known for unpredictable behavior fueled by heavy drinking; his grandson Andy described him as bombastic and flamboyant. In one incident, while drinking with Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, they agreed to swap stars Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams but did not execute the trade after sobering up.

Later life and legacy

MacPhail owned a 400-acre farm near Bel Air, Maryland, called Glenangus, where he bred Thoroughbred racehorses. His colt General Staff won the 1952 Narragansett Special and five other stake races that year. In March 1952, he was appointed President of Bowie Race Track in Bowie, Maryland, but was removed after thirteen months and barred from the track, accused of using profanity to three horse owners and charged with being drunk and disorderly. He died in a Miami nursing home on October 1, 1975, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.

Several family members became sports executives: his son Lee MacPhail was a longtime baseball executive and Hall of Fame inductee in 1998, making them the only father-son inductees; his other son Bill MacPhail was president of CBS Sports and later CNN Sports; grandson Andy MacPhail was general manager of the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs and president of baseball operations for the Orioles; great-grandson Lee MacPhail IV is a professional scout for the New York Mets, and another great-grandson, Drew MacPhail, works in the Los Angeles Dodgers' front office.

Since 1966, Minor League Baseball has awarded the Larry MacPhail Award for top promotional effort by a minor league team. In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored him as one of 37 Hall of Fame members for his U.S. Army service in World War II.