Horace Solomon Fogel (March 2, 1861 – November 15, 1928) was a
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), ...
manager and executive who served as manager of the
Indianapolis Hoosiers Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis.
* Indianapolis Hoosiers (American Association), which played in 1884
* Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League), which pla ...
and
New York Giants and president of the
Philadelphia Phillies.
Early life
Fogel was born on March 2, 1861, in
Macungie, Pennsylvania
Macungie is the second oldest borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Macungie had a population of 3,257. It is a suburb of Allentown, and part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 an ...
. He spent his youth working in the local iron ore mines and after a stint as a telegraph operator he entered the sports world as a sports writer for ''
The Philadelphia Press
''The Philadelphia Press'' (or ''The Press'') is a defunct newspaper that was published from August 1, 1857, to October 1, 1920.
The paper was founded by John Weiss Forney. Charles Emory Smith was editor and owned a stake in the paper from 1880 u ...
'' and later the ''
Philadelphia Evening Telegraph
The Philadelphia ''Evening Telegraph'' was a newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1864 to 1918.
The paper was started on January 4, 1864, by James Barclay Harding and Charles Edward Warburton. Warburton served as publisher unti ...
''.
Indianapolis Hoosiers
In 1887, at the recommendation of
Francis Richter, Fogel was hired to manage the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the
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 ...
. During his tenure as manager, Fogel stripped
Jack Glasscock
John Wesley "Jack" Glasscock (July 22, 1857 – February 24, 1947) was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for several teams from 1879 to 1895. Nicknamed "Pebbly Jack", he was the top player at his position in the 1880s durin ...
of his captaincy, suspended and fined a number of other players, and accused umpires of robbing his team. In a letter published in the ''
Indianapolis News
The ''Indianapolis News'' was an evening newspaper published for 130 years, beginning December 7, 1869, and ending on October 1, 1999. The "Great Hoosier Daily," as it was known, at one time held the largest circulation in the state of Indiana. ...
'', one of his players,
Otto Schomberg
Otto H. Schomberg (born Otto H. Shambrick, – ) was an American Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and Indianapolis Hoosiers.
Professional career
Pittsburgh Alleghenys
Schomberg was 21 when he broke i ...
, accused Fogel of drinking. He resigned after the season.
Politics and return to writing
After leaving Indianapolis, Fogel returned to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, where he wrote for the ''
Sporting Life'' and served as sports editor of the ''
Public Ledger''. In 1892, he entered politics as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the
Philadelphia City Council in 1892 and the
Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1894. In 1893 he unsuccessfully lobbied for the position of Naval Officer of the Port of Philadelphia. In the sporting world, Fogel unsuccessfully campaigned for the positions of secretary of the
Pennsylvania State League in 1894 and president of the
Atlantic League in 1896.
From 1898 to 1900, Fogel was president of the
National Basketball League. From 1899 to 1902 he was president of the Atlantic League.
New York Giants
In 1902, Fogel was named manager of the New York Giants. He was the twelfth of thirteen managers employed by
Andrew Freedman
Andrew Freedman (September 1, 1860 – December 4, 1915) was an American businessman who is primarily remembered as the owner of the New York Giants professional baseball team of the National League from 1895 to 1902. He also briefly owned the ...
in his eight seasons as owner.
After the Giants started out with a 18–23 record, Fogel was replaced as manager by captain
Heinie Smith, but remained with the team as scout and press agent.
In June 1902, Fogel, representing himself as an agent of the National League, attempted to lure players away from the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
.
Second return to reports writing
After leaving the Giants, Fogel returned to the Evening Telegraph as its sports editor. In 1903 he succeeded
Ernest Lanigan as ''
The 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 ...
s Philadelphia baseball writer. He wrote under the alias Veteran until 1907, when he began using his own name.
Philadelphia Phillies
On November 26, 1909, it was announced that the Philadelphia Phillies had been sold to a syndicate and that Fogel would serve as the club's president. Fogel's syndicate was backed by
Charles Phelps Taft
Charles Phelps Taft (December 21, 1843 – December 31, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician who served as editor of the ''Cincinnati Times-Star'' and owned both the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs baseball teams. From 1895 to 1897 ...
, who also owned the
Chicago Cubs.
Taft and Cubs' president
Charles Murphy publicly denied that they had purchased a second club, but did acknowledge that Taft was the owner of
Philadelphia's National League Park.
Ban from baseball
On August 17, 1912, Fogel accused
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
manager
Roger Bresnahan
Roger Philip Bresnahan (June 11, 1879 – December 4, 1944), nicknamed "The Duke of Tralee", was an American player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a player, Bresnahan competed in MLB for the Washington Senators (1897), Chicago ...
of playing a weak lineup against the New York Giants in order to help his friend, Giants manager
John McGraw
John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...
, win the pennant. On September 6, 1912, after the Phillies lost both games of a double header to the Giants, he told reporters that the pennant race was “fixed” for the Giants. On September 28 he wrote and signed a statement accusing National League president
Thomas Lynch and the league's umpires of colluding to give the National League championship to the Giants.
On September 30, 1912, Lynch announced that he would bring Fogel's charges to the National League's board of directors, where Fogel would have to substantiate them or face discipline. Fogel resigned as team president on November 22, 1912, and was succeeded by attorney and team vice president and minority partner Alfred Day Wiler.
Hearings on Fogel's statements took place on November 26 and November 27, 1912. Afterwards, the board of directors voted 7 to 0 to "forever exclude
ogelfrom further participation in the councils of this league as the representative of the Philadelphia Baseball Club or any other club", with Philadelphia's representative Alfred Wiler abstaining.
On December 14, 1912, Wiler announced that Fogel's option on the Phillies expired and he was no longer involved in the ownership of the club.
Later life
After his ouster from the National League, Fogel attempted to stay involved in baseball by publishing a monthly magazine dedicated to the sport.
The venture was unsuccessful.
In 1913 he attempted to acquire a Philadelphia franchise in the
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...
, but the league had no desire to deal with him.
Fogel died of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
on November 15, 1928.
He had been in poor health since a stroke in 1922. He was survived by his wife and predeceased by their son.
He is interred at
Mount Peace Cemetery in Philadelphia.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball figures who have been banned for life
*
San Francisco Giants general managers and managers
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fogel, Horace
1861 births
1928 deaths
American sportswriters
Burials at Mount Peace Cemetery
Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) managers
Journalists from Pennsylvania
New York Giants (NL) managers
Pennsylvania Democrats
Philadelphia Phillies executives
Philadelphia Phillies owners
Sportspeople banned for life
Sportspeople from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Sportspeople from Philadelphia