Thomas Younger Baird (January 27, 1885 – July 2, 1962) was an American

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 t ...

executive who served as the vice-president, co-owner, and eventual sole-owner of the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 19 ...

of the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. Baird was associated with the Monarchs, and their founder and owner J. L. Wilkinson, from 1919 to 1955. Wilkinson sold the Monarchs to Baird in 1948, and Baird sold the team in 1955 to Ted Rasberry.

Early life

Baird was born in Madison County, Arkansas, and moved to Kansas City as a teen living in

Argentine, Kansas Argentine is a community of Kansas City, Kansas, located in the southern part of Wyandotte County. It is bordered on the west by the Turner community, on the east by the Rosedale community, on the south by Johnson County, and on the north by Arm ...

. Baird played semipro baseball until he received two fractures in his legs working for Rock Island Railroad, leaving him with a permanent limp. After his athletic career was cut short, Baird turned to entrepreneurship, opening a pool hall and bowling alley before starting the Monarchs in 1919.

Ku Klux Klan

There is significant evidence to support that T.Y. Baird was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The name T. Baird appears on a list of Klansmen in the papers of Kansas governor

Henry Justin Allen Henry Justin Allen (September 11, 1868 – January 17, 1950) was an American politician serving as the 21st Governor of Kansas (1919–1923) and U.S. Senator from Kansas (1929–30). Life and career Allen was born in Warren County, Pennsylvani ...

. Allen led a crusade against the Klan, ultimately resulting in a state-wide organizational ban in 1927. Research by historian Timothy Rives found that Thomas Baird was the only adult man living in

Wyandotte County, Kansas Wyandotte County (; county code WY) is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,245, making it Kansas's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City, with whic ...

with this name. According to census data and personal papers combined with Allen's list, Baird had personal, social, business and political ties to Klansmen in both

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

and Kansas City, Missouri. Baird owned the building at 17th and Central where both Wyandotte Klan No. 5 and women's auxiliary Kamelia Kourt Klan were headquartered. The names of Baird's family members, neighbors, employees, dentist, family doctor, and real estate agent all appear on Allen's list.

References

External links

Tom Baird
at Arkansas Baseball Encyclopedia 1885 births 1962 deaths Baseball executives Negro league baseball executives Kansas City Monarchs American Ku Klux Klan members {{baseball-business-bio-stub