Books and articles about Sam Breadon

SHOPPING » Look for Sam Breadon books at BN.com » Look for Sam Breadon books at Amazon.com Your purchases keep BaseballLibrary.com online. Thank you!

RELATED LINKS Book Excerpts » Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era by Charles C. Alexander

Breadon's first business venture was vending popcorn at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. He owned an automobile agency until the 1930s. As a favor to a friend, he invested $200 in the Cardinals, and 27 years later he controlled the team. Under Breadon, the Cards won nine pennants and six WS. He succeeded Branch Rickey as Cardinals president in 1920, but Rickey stayed on as GM. They began the first farm system. At its peak, they owned 16 teams outright and had 12 working agreements. (NLM)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » March 9, 1922: Rogers Hornsby signs a three-year contract with Cards owner Sam Breadon calling for $18,500 per season. This makes the young star the highest paid player in National League history. » May 8, 1922: Sam Breadon buys controlling interest—72%—in the Cardinals. He and Branch Rickey, who owns the rest of the stock, will combine to create one of baseball's most successful operations. Breadon demotes Rickey to veep, but allows him to remain as field manager. » May 30, 1925: Between games today, Rogers Hornsby is named manager of the Cardinals by Sam Breadon, replacing Branch Rickey, who remains as general manager. An angry Rickey will sell his shares in the team to Hornsby. St. Louis, in last place, drops two games to Pittsburgh, losing 4–1 in the morning and 15–5 in the P.M. contest, despite two homers by the new manager. Playing in front of an overflow crowd at spacious Forbes Field, the Pirates sets a modern National League record by stroking eight triples in the 2nd game; the Cards tally one for a combined record-tying nine triples. The normal rules about balls hit into the crowds being ground-rule doubles is expanded to make them triples today: eight of the three-baggers are ground-rule triples. » December 20, 1926: In probably the biggest player-for-player trade to date, Rogers Hornsby is traded from the Cardinals to the New York Giants for Frankie Frisch and P Jimmy Ring. Hornsby, after 12 years in St. Louis, will play for three teams in the next three years. Hornsby and owner Sam Breadon had had an increasingly stormy relationship, and feelings between Frankie Frisch and John McGraw were equally as bad. Thirty years later, Hornsby will call the trade "the biggest disappointment in my life." » April 8, 1927: Four days before the season opens, recently traded Rogers Hornsby breaks the impasse by selling his stock in the Cardinals for $112,000. He receives $86,000 from Sam Breadon, $2,000 from each of the other 7 NL clubs, and an extra $12,000 from the Giants. » June 18, 1927: It's Charles Lindbergh Day in St. Louis as the transatlantic flyer helps raise the Cardinals National League pennant before a 6–4 win over the Giants. Rogers Hornsby makes his first appearance in St. Louis since the big trade of last fall and Cards owner Sam Breadon picks today to raise the pennant and hand out Series rings. The Rajah has a double in the game, off Pete Alexander, but Jim Bottomley's 3-run homer for the Cards offsets that. » June 7, 1940: With the Cardinals starting badly (14-24), owner Sam Breadon fires Ray Blades as manager. Bill Southworth is brought back from Rochester to replace him. Mike Gonzales is the interim manager until Southworth arrives. » November 1, 1942: Larry MacPhail enters the army. The Dodgers look to St. Louis for leadership. After 2 decades in St. Louis, Branch Rickey splits with owner Sam Breadon. He will sign to become GM at Brooklyn. » May 16, 1945: Mort Cooper goes AWOL from the Cardinals, returning to St. Louis. A 20-game winner for three previous seasons, Cooper, along with his brother, has had his salary frozen at $12,000 for three years, and is in a salary dispute with owner Sam Breadon. Without Cooper, the Cards drop a pair to the Braves, losing 5–4 in 14 innings, and 4–1. » May 23, 1945: Mort Cooper is traded by the Cardinals to the Braves. The three-time 20-game winner has twice jumped the club in a salary hassle. Threatening to run out again unless his contract is increased from $12,000 to $15,000, Cooper is swapped by owner Sam Breadon to the newly affluent Braves for Red Barrett and $60,000 cash. Cooper will develop arm trouble while Barrett, 9–16 in 1944, will win 21 games for the Cards this season. » May 8, 1947: A movement among Cardinal players to protest its first meeting with Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers is aborted by a clubhouse talk from owner Sam Breadon, according to a story by writer Stanley Woodward, League president Ford Frick had warned the team that if a strike occurred, any player involved would be suspended. Cardinal manager Eddie Dyer denies there was any strike talk. The Cards win 5–1, for their 2nd win in a row. » November 25, 1947: Sam Breadon sells the Cardinal empire to Postmaster General Robert Hannegan and Fred Saigh. The price is in excess of $4 million with the new owners getting the Cardinal players, physical assets, 16 minor league franchises, $2.1 million in reserve funds and payment on a new ballpark site, 4 minor league parks, and the lease on Sportsman's Park. Breadon had first acquired an interest in the Cardinals in 1917 and bought control in 1920 for an investment of $350,000. » May 10, 1949: Longtime Cardinal owner Sam Breadon dies. Robert Hannegan, the man to whom he sold the club, will die October 6.