William Yale Giles (born September 7, 1934) is the honorary

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) President, and chairman emeritus and former part-owner of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB)'s

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

Early career

Giles is the son of

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

executive Warren C. Giles, who was the general manager and president of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1937–1951) before becoming president of the

(1951–1969). Bill Giles was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, during his father's term as president of

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

. His baseball career began in the Cincinnati organization during the 1950s, and he was among a group of Reds' executives (including former Cincinnati

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Gabe Paul Gabriel Howard Paul (January 4, 1910 – April 26, 1998) was an American executive in Major League Baseball who, between 1951 and 1984, served as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt .45s, Cleveland Indians and New York Yanke ...

and MLB executive

Tal Smith Talbot Merton Smith (born September 27, 1933) is an American former professional baseball executive who has served in high baseball operations positions—including general manager and club president—as well as the founder of a firm that advises ...

) who helped to found the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

when they debuted as the ''Colt .45s'' in 1962. ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''1962 Official Baseball Guide and Record Book,'' published in the Colt .45s' maiden season, lists Giles as the club's traveling secretary and publicity director. Subsequently, he became promotions director, and focused on that role after the renamed team moved into the Astrodome in 1965.

Philadelphia Phillies

Giles started with the Phillies as the vice president of business operations in 1969. He worked his way up in the organization, with stops as executive vice president and president, before becoming the chairman in 1997. He was succeeded as chairman by David Montgomery and became chairman emeritus in 2015. Giles was also part of the ownership group that bought the Phillies from the

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

family in 1981. The group was composed of Giles, Claire S. Betz, Tri-Play Associates (Alexander K. Buck, J. Mahlon Buck Jr. and William C. Buck), and Double Play Inc. (

John S. Middleton John S. Middleton is an American businessperson and philanthropist. He is the managing partner and principal owner of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, holding a 48 percent ownership stake in the team. Early life, education an ...

). Mahlon Buck died in 2011. Claire S. Betz died in 2014. The group reportedly purchased the team for $30 million. In March 2015, the team was valued at over $1 billion. Around 2012 or 2013, Giles sold his last shares of the Phillies.

National League honorary president

Giles is also honorary president of the

—the same job his father held on an official full-time basis. One of the honorary president's tasks is to present the

Warren C. Giles Trophy Major League Baseball presents a variety of annual awards and trophies to recognize both its teams and its players. Three team trophies are awarded annually: one each to the National League and American League champions, and one of the champion of ...

, named after his father, to the National League Championship Series winner. Other duties of the honorary league president include representing the league at the All-Star Game and the postseason.

Honors and awards

In 2001, a new tournament for the Division II baseball teams in the Philadelphia area, the

Bill Giles Invitational The Liberty Bell Classic was conceived in 1992 as a way for local Philadelphia-area Division I colleges to compete against each other in a tournament, as well as an opportunity for the schools to play on the big league field of Veterans Stadium ...

, was named in his honor.

Personal

His wife, Nancy, died on April 12, 2020.

Bibliography

*''Pouring Six Beers at a Time: And Other Stories from a Lifetime in Baseball''

References

External links

Bill Giles
at Baseball America Executive Database
Bill Giles
Phillies Front Office
Bill Giles: Baseball in Giles family bloodlines"
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Bill 1934 births Living people American sports businesspeople Denison Big Red men's tennis players Major League Baseball executives Major League Baseball owners Major League Baseball general managers Major League Baseball team presidents Philadelphia Phillies executives Philadelphia Phillies owners