George Washington Grant was an American businessman who owned the Boston Braves 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 ...

from to . Grant was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where he worked as a paper boy, messenger, and street car conductor. One of his friends growing up was future Chicago Cubs owner Charles Murphy. Grant later owned a racing stable and managed Kid McCoy's saloon. In 1907 he founded George W. Grant & Co. in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to sell stock in cobalt mines. In 1905, Grant opened the Bioscope in

Victoria, London Victoria is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster. It is named after Victoria Station, which is a major transport hub. The station was named after the nearby Victoria Street. The name is used to describe streets adjoining or n ...

. The theater consisted of a hall constructed behind an existing storefront and was one of the city’s first purpose-built cinemas. Grant later changed the name of the theatre to the Biograph and in 1908, founded Biograph Theatres Inc. with Harry Grahame Russell. By 1911 there were ten Biograph Theatres in London. In 1915 he sold his interests in England and returned to the United States. He shared an office on Wall Street with New York Giants owner Charles Stoneham and was one of the team's season-ticket holders. On January 30, 1919 he purchased the Boston Braves from Millet, Roe & Hagen for a reported $400,000. During his tenure as owner, the club was hampered by injuries and poor weather that cost him almost all of his holiday dates and most of his Saturdays. On February 20, 1923 he sold the club to a syndicate led by

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Gia ...

and Emil Fuchs. After selling the Braves, Grant moved to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, where he served as treasurer of the

Oriental Park Racetrack Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, was a thoroughbred horse-racing facility operated during the winter by the Havana-American Jockey Club of Cuba. Founded in 1915, Oriental Park was the only race track in Cuba in the days before ...

. He retired to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where he died on April 5, 1947 at the age of 77.

References

Year of birth missing 1947 deaths American entertainment industry businesspeople American expatriate baseball people in Cuba American expatriates in England American horse racing industry executives Baseball executives Boston Braves (baseball) Businesspeople from Cincinnati {{US-baseball-business-bio-stub