Robert Ruliph Morgan "Ruly" Carpenter III (June 10, 1940 – September 13, 2021) was an American businessman and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

executive. He was the principal owner and president of the

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 ...

from 1972 to 1981.

Early life

Carpenter was born in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, on June 10, 1940. He was the first of three children of Bob Carpenter and Mary Kaye Phelps. He was three years old when his grandfather, R. R. M. Carpenter Sr., bought the

in 1943 and appointed Bob as team president. Carpenter attended

Tower Hill School Tower Hill School is a private college preparatory school in Wilmington, Delaware, offering instruction for pre-school through 12th grade. History Tower Hill was founded in 1919. The school is situated at the high point of Wilmington's neighbo ...

, where he was a first-team All-State end. He went on to study at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to d ...

in football and baseball there.

Career

Carpenter joined his father in the Phillies' front office in 1963. Two years later, he suggested that his father hire Paul Owens, a young scout, as farm system director. Owens would eventually become

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 ...

in 1972. Carpenter became team president at age 32, when his father stepped down during the 1972 season while remaining chairman of the board. He became the youngest team president in MLB. His tenure as owner was, statistically speaking, one of the most successful in franchise history. From 1976 to 1980, the Phillies won the NL East in every season but one, including the team's first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

win in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. They also won the first half National League East title in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Carpenter was opposed to female reporters being allowed into the team's locker rooms, but acquiesced to a court ruling in 1979 because he did not want to continue to fight what he regarded as a losing battle. Soon after the World Series triumph, however, Carpenter decided to sell the team. With the advent of

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, salaries were already starting to spiral upward, with the Phillies having the second-highest payroll in the MLB at the time. He believed that even with his considerable wealth he needed to take on minority investors in order to stay afloat. Unwilling to have to get permission from partners in order to make major decisions, he sold the Phillies to a group headed by longtime Phillies executive Bill Giles for $32.5 million in 1981. Carpenter resided in Wilmington. He was a longtime member of the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

Board of Trustees; his family has supported the school for many years. He remained an avid Phillies fan, and closely followed the team's run to its second World Series championship in 2008. He was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Personal life

Carpenter was married to Stephanie (Conklin) Carpenter for 61 years until his death. Together, they had three children: Robert IV, David, and Cinda. Carpenter died on September 13, 2021, at his home in Montchanin, Delaware.

References

External links

* Kram, Mark.
Ruly Carpenter ran Phillies when they won 1980 World Series
. ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

'', 2008-10-20. * University of Delaware Public Relations.
R.R.M. Carpenter III: Portrait of 'the Consummate Volunteer'
''The Messenger'', January 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Ruly 1940 births 2021 deaths Du Pont family Major League Baseball executives Major League Baseball owners Major League Baseball team presidents People from Wilmington, Delaware Philadelphia Phillies executives Philadelphia Phillies owners Yale Bulldogs football players Yale University alumni