William Edward Benswanger (February 22, 1892 – January 15, 1972) was an American businessman who served for almost 15 years as president and chief executive of the
Pittsburgh Pirates 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), ...
franchise, from through .
Born in New York City, Benswanger moved with his family to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
when he was five years of age. Upon adulthood, he entered his family's insurance business, then served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
's balloon corps during World War I. He also was an accomplished pianist and musician and served on the board of the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
History
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an America ...
for two decades.
Son-in-law of Pirates' owners
Benswanger became involved in
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 ...
through his marriage to Eleanor "Fanny" Dreyfuss, daughter of longtime Pirates owner
Barney Dreyfuss
Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss (February 23, 1865 – February 5, 1932) was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Dr ...
. The elder Dreyfuss was grooming his son, Samuel, to succeed him as club president, but Samuel Dreyfuss died suddenly in 1931 from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
at age 35. The following year, Barney Dreyfuss died as well. Dreyfuss' widow, Florence, inherited the team. She successfully prevailed upon Benswanger, her son-in-law, to become president and operating head of the franchise.
He would lead the team from
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...
through the
1946 season. During that time, the Pirates boasted a number of star players, including
Baseball Hall of Fame members
Paul Waner
Paul Glee Waner (April 16, 1903 – August 29, 1965), nicknamed "Big Poison", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams between 1926 and 1945, most notably playing his first 15 se ...
,
Lloyd Waner
Lloyd James Waner (March 16, 1906 – July 22, 1982), nicknamed "Little Poison", was a Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. His small stature at and 132 lb (68 kg) ,
Pie Traynor,
Arky Vaughan and
Ralph Kiner
Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955. Foll ...
. But, apart from four second-place finishes, they resided in the middle- to lower-rung 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 ...
and were late in developing a
farm system, the surest method at the time of attaining sustained success in baseball. On the plus side, Benswanger kept the team going through the
Great Depression and brought back all-time great
Honus Wagner
Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner (; February 24, 1874 – December 6, 1955), sometimes referred to as "Hans" Wagner, was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pitts ...
to serve as a
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
.
Fought players' union in 1946
Benswanger's last year as president, 1946, was especially tumultuous.
Robert Murphy, a
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
labor lawyer, organized the
American Baseball Guild
The American Baseball Guild was a short-lived American trade union that attempted to organize Major League Baseball (MLB) players into a collective bargaining unit in 1946. , a players'
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and predecessor of the
Major League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union representing all current Major League Baseball players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a signed contract with a Major League cl ...
. Early demands included a minimum salary, standardization of player contracts, and an increase in per-diem expense reimbursements (amending or abolishing the
reserve clause
The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into an ...
was not yet on the table). Murphy targeted the Pirates as the testing ground for signing members of the Guild because of Pittsburgh's reputation as a union stronghold. The majority of the Pirates joined the Guild, with the notable exception of veteran pitcher
Rip Sewell
Truett Banks "Rip" Sewell (May 11, 1907 – September 3, 1989) was a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 13 years in the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers (1932) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1938–1949). Sewell ...
. Benswanger, as point man for the Major League owners, would not negotiate with the Guild, and Murphy threatened a
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
for the Pirates' June 7 game with the
New York Giants. In a pre-game players-only meeting, a majority voted in favor of striking. However, due to Sewell's forceful opposition, the vote fell short of the required two-thirds majority, and the threat evaporated. The failure of the strike vote fatally wounded the Guild; the owners made minor concessions to players, and staved off the effective creation of a union until the MLBPA was formed in 1966.
The New York Times, 2012.12.01
/ref>
At the same time Benswanger was fending off the American Baseball Guild, the Dreyfuss family's 46-year ownership of the team was coming to a close. In August 1946, the Pirates were purchased by an ownership group headed by Indianapolis businessman Frank E. McKinney, and which included entertainer Bing Crosby, Pittsburgh attorney Thomas P. Johnson
Thomas Phillips Johnson (June 8, 1914 – May 23, 2000) was an American Lawyer, attorney, businessman, philanthropist, Republican Party (United States), Republican Party activist, and sportsman. He was probably best known for being a minority ow ...
, and Columbus, Ohio-based real estate magnate John W. Galbreath
John Wilmer Galbreath (August 10, 1897 – July 20, 1988) was an American building contractor and sportsman.
Born in Derby, Ohio, he grew up in Mount Sterling, Ohio, where he graduated from high school. He then graduated from Ohio University ...
. Benswanger stepped down as club president upon completion of the sale on August 8. He died in Pittsburgh at age 79.
Prior to Branch Rickey's efforts with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Benswanger was one of the few owners and executives who vocally challenged Major League Baseball's color barrier
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...
and its major proponent, Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his ...
.
References
*Obituary, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Jan. 17, 1972.
Pittsburgh Pirates owners
Article discussing Benswanger's efforts to integrate baseball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benswanger, William
1892 births
1972 deaths
Major League Baseball owners
Pittsburgh Pirates executives
Pittsburgh Pirates owners
Businesspeople from Pittsburgh
20th-century American businesspeople