https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/henry-killilea/
Original article written by Dennis Pajot
researched and compiled by Carrie Birdsong
Henry J. Killilea is one of those men who were
important in their time and are almost forgotten today. If he is mentioned at all in baseball
circles, it is usually to credit him with putting together the first World
Series of the twentieth century. But
Henry Killilea was involved in baseball as an investor, an owner (twice), and a trusted legal counsel. In addition, he
was considered one of the best criminal and civil lawyers in his hometown,
Milwaukee.Henry’s parents, Matthew and Mary [nee: Muray]
Killilea, were born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1849,
settling at the town of Poygan in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. On June 30, 1863, a son – Henry James – was
born. The Killileas had three other children,
John, Matthew, and Mary. Henry grew up
working on the family farm and attending the district schools. After graduation from high school, Henry
taught school in Clay Banks (Door County, Wisconsin) and Oakwood (Winnebago
County).
In the fall of 1882, Henry entered the law department
of the University of Michigan. During
his time at Michigan, he was the manager, center, and forward (rusher) of the
football team, a wrestler, and captain of the baseball team. Years later a Milwaukee lawyer commented: “No
one would ever surmise that Henry J. Killilea was at one time one of the crack
baseball pitchers in amateur circles, but I can remember the time when he pitched
for the University of Michigan team that he was one of the most effective twirlers
in the West. He was strategic and
skillful, possessed of considerable speed, and was a nervy young man, and when
other teams played against the Varsity, Henry generally bowled them over.”[fn}Milwaukee
Sentinel, March 4, 1897.[/fn] It was
said that he had rejected an offer from the Detroit Tigers.[/fn] Milwaukee
Journal, September 23, 1929.
Killilea graduated from the University of Michigan in
1885 and was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in September. He soon gained national fame defending
activist labor leaders and politicians, and winning an acquittal of a teacher
accused of murdering a student. He
became a corporate lawyer for some of the city’s largest industries and was
active in the Democratic Party.
On December 6, 1888, Henry married Louise Meinderman,
a native of Michigan, who had just graduated from the University of
Michigan. The marriage produced two
children, Florence and Harry.
Killilea remained active in amateur sports as a
player, umpire, and referee. He owned
trotting horses and pacers. He was an
investor in the Milwaukee franchise in Ban Johnson’s new Western League,
organized in late 1893. His older
brother Matthew was the club’s president.
In the fall of 1899 Ban Johnson, Charles Comiskey, and Milwaukee manager
Connie Mack met at Henry’s house at 1616 Grand Avenue, changed the league’s
name from Western to American, put a team in Chicago, and laid the groundwork
to challenge the National League’s monopoly on major league baseball. The articles of incorporation for the new
Chicago Baseball Club were written up in Killilea’s law offices in the
Republican House Hotel, and notarized by Killilea.[fn] Articles of Incorporation of the American
League Base Ball Club of Chicago, March 5, 1900 – as reprinted in Bob Buege’s
article “The Birth of the American League” in SABR 31 booklet.[/fn]
Matthew Killilea was still president of Milwaukee’s
1901 American League team. But late in the season, he became ill, and Henry
became the directing head of the Brewers.
After the season Ban Johnson announced the transfer of the Brewers to
St. Louis, despite the Killileas’ objections.
Henry sold his interest to a St. Louis syndicate for a reported $40,000;
Matthew retained his share of the club but died in 1902.
Nevertheless, Henry Killilea was not completely out of
American League baseball. In February
1902 he headed a group that purchased the Boston Club form Charles Somers for
about 60,000. Killilea retained Jimmy
Collins as manager and hired Joseph Gavin as business manager.
For the 1902 season, Killilea made improvements to the
Huntington Avenue grounds and put Collins in charge of hiring players. Because of his law interests in Milwaukee,
Killilea was definitely a “foreign” owner, seeing but a half dozen games in
Boston. However, this did not seem to
bother the Boston fans. Killilea made
himself clear on his baseball philosophy: “I am perfectly satisfied to remain
in the game financially and let the men who follow the profession more
closely attend to the managing end of the sport.”[fn]Sporting Life, November
8, 1902, p.3[/fn] His Americans finished
third with a 77-60 record. It was
reported the Boston club made about $60,000.
In the spring of 1903, Killilea said he had been offered $100,000 for the
franchise, but had no intention of selling.
During the off-season, a peace agreement was hammered
out between the National League and American League. It was later said that next to AL president
Ban Johnson, Henry Killilea was the principal factor in the peace
agreement. Two years later Sporting
Life called him “the godfather of the American League.”[fn]Sporting Life,
July 2, 1904, p.1,[/fn] As the American League was placing a team in New York
for the 1903 season, there were reports Killilea was interested in taking over
the franchise. However, Henry
immediately denied this, telling the press: “It is too ridiculous to
consider. You can say for me that I have
no more interest in the New York club than the man in the moon.”[fn]Sporting
Life, November 8, 1902, p. 3.[/fn]
With the baseball trade war over, most clubs were
cutting salaries. But Killilea gave
Jimmy Collins carte blanche to put another strong team on the field in
1903. And Collins did, spending in the
neighborhood of $56,000 on player salaries, and winning the American League
pennant with a 91-47 record.
Talk of a championship series between Boston and NL
champion Pittsburgh began in September.
Killilea and Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss made arrangements for a
nine-game series beginning October 1, with the winning club taking 75 percent
of the receipts, and the losing club 25 percent.
Immediately there were problems between Killilea and his players. The players’ contracts ran through September
30, and they refused to accept Killilea’s offer of either extending their
contracts to October 15 or a division of the receipts with exemptions from
expenses. The players wanted both a
contract extension and a share of the receipts.
Killilea rejected this and declared the series off. Negotiations between the players and Killilea
resumed, and a settlement was reached.
The players’ contracts were extended, and they would receive 50 percent
of the club’s receipts to split.
The first “World Series” was played, with Boston winning
five of the eight games played. Barney
Dreyfuss had promised his players all the Pirates’ share of the receipts if
they won and now decided to give his players all the receipts given their
gallant fight. According to the October
24, 1903, Sporting Life, each member of the Pirates received a check for
$1316. Each player of the victorious
Boston club got $1182 – just what was coming to them by agreement. Henry Killilea made $6699.
Boston fans were extremely upset over the ticked
situation. Prices were raised for the
series games in Boston. Almost all the
grandstand tickets were turned over to speculators, who reaped a “rich
harvest”[fn]Sporting Life, October 24, 1903, p. 7.[/fn] from re-sale for
some. (Bad weather in the final game
caused some spectators to sell their tickets at face value.) Gambling was heavy on the series, even before
the games began. Suspicions arose that
some games were not on the level.[fn]See Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson, Red
Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball’s Most Storied Franchise
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), pp. 27-44, for details on the gambling and
likelihood of thrown games.[/fn]
Killilea was under fire from his players, fans, and
the press. As early as November 1903
there were reports in the press of a sale, which Killilea denied. But there was little doubt he would sell if
the price was right. The franchise was
very successful, making a profit of about $50,000 in 1903.[fn]Ibid., p.
51.[/fn] Ex-congressman John F.
Fitzgerald and Killilea had a tentative deal for the sale of the club in March
1904, but Ban Johnson vetoed it. Finally
in April the Boston Americans were sold to John Irving Taylor. The price was not made public but was
believed to be close to $135,000.[fn]The source for the $135,000 price is the Milwaukee
Journal April 19, 1904 and Sporting Life April 23, 1904 p. 5. Other sources give the price as $125,000 (Sporting
Life, April 30, 1904, p.3.), and $145,000 (Red Sox Century,
p.52).[/fn] Killilea said he sold the
club due to his business interests in Milwaukee, preventing him from making the
necessary time for the baseball franchise.
After his retirement from the Red Sox Henry Killilea
led less of a high-profile life. On
January 1, 1907, he became solicitor general in Wisconsin for the Milwaukee St.
Paul Railroad (better known as the Milwaukee Railroad), in which capacity he
served until his death. It was apparent
his skills in the rail industry were well known; during The Great War Killilea
turned down an offer of the United States government to be general counsel for
the railroads.
However, Killilea was still involved in baseball
behind the scenes. He was the legal
advisor to baseball’s National Commission in 1905. The next year Killilea was on the other side
of the table, acting as American Association president Joseph O’Brien’s lawyer
in a ball dispute with the National Commission.
He defended umpire Brick Owens, who had been accused of betting on a
game in which he officiated. In 1908 and
’09 he was counsel for the American Association of Minor Leagues. A compromise was found in which both leagues
received a higher classification, plus better drafting and territory
privileges. Killilea’s skills in these
cases brought praise from Sporting Life: “Not the least of
Mr. Killilea’s merits was the fact that he successfully combined aggressiveness
with diplomacy; that as the author of the present National Agreement, he was
familiar with the ground at all times; and that he possessed the acquaintance,
respect, and confidence of nearly all of the major league magnates. Such advantages are possessed by no other
lawyer of this generation so far as the National game is concerned, and they
make Mr. Killilea the chief of the very small coterie of ‘baseball
lawyers.’”[fn]Sporting Life, December 19, 1902, p. 6.[/fn] Reports after his death stated Killilea had
been the legal counsel of the American League until Ban Johnson’s retirement in
1927.
Being a friend of both AL president Ban Johnson and
Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, Killilea used this influence to
reconcile the two a number of times. In
1902 Commy, Johnson, and Matt Killilea were quarreling, and Henry persuaded the
league president and Chicago owner to shake hands over his brother’s
grave. In 1906 the two big men in the
American League were again in a two-year feud, Comiskey believing Johnson had
crippled his team when he suspended some of his players. Again Killilea used his influence at the
winter meeting to get the two to reconcile.
Once again in September 1908, the Milwaukeean brought the feuding couple
together.
Henry Killilea was more than a friend to Ban
Johnson. He was possibly a
life-saver. In his death notice in the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, United Press staff writer Bert Demby wrote: “When Johnson’s
last big fight [shortly before his retirement] came on, it was Killilea who
realized first that Ban’s health would not permit him to indulge
in the battle. Johnson was game and
refusing to bow before Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, prepared to make his
hardest fight. Killilea sought to save
his friend’s life by issuing an announcement pledging Johnson’s
retirement. It was plain that Johnson
did not like this, but he finally realized his friend was right. many believe that Killilea
added many years to Johnson’s life by doing what he thought best for his
friend.”[fn]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 23, 1929.[/fn]
In 1920 to 1927 Otto Borchert owned the Milwaukee
Brewers of the American Association. On
April 27, 1927, Borchert died of a heart attack, his widow taking over the
club. Henry Killilea had been Borchert’s
personal lawyer and continued to look after the club. On January 3, 1928, Killilea purchased the
Brewers for $280,000, the largest amount ever paid for a club in the American
Association. The purchase did not
include Athletic Park, where the ball team played. Killilea signed a 25-year lease with Mrs.
Borchert, and immediately renamed the park Borchert Field.
Killilea promised Milwaukee fans, that he would go to the
limit to put a winning team on the field.
The Brewers finished third with a 90-78 record. The club was also a financial success. Again Killilea came into praise from a
newspaperman, this time from the Milwaukee Sentinel’s Manning Vaughn: “A
club owner whose every move is not made for commercial purposes deserves the
support of the public. Killilea’s record
proves that there are still men in baseball who consider the national game a sport
as well as a business. Owners of this
type are great rarities in these days of dollar scrambling, and Milwaukee is
fortunate in having a man directing its baseball fortunes who is a sportsman
enough to give the customers a real run for their money.[fn]Milwaukee
Sentinel, August 14, 1928.[/fn]
Unfortunately, Milwaukee fans would have this “great
rarity” to run the club for long. About
two years before this winning season Killilea had suffered an infection on
the neck while in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with Otto Borchert. He was ill for two weeks and then took a trip
to South America for his health. He then
was involved in an accident, suffering several fractured ribs and a shoulder
injury when he dodged an automobile. In
March 1928 he was hospitalized with pleurisy.
On January 7, 1929, Killilea had a heart attack in his
office at the Majestic Building. He was
admitted to Milwaukee Hospital and appeared to be improving, until he suffered
a stroke of paralysis a week later. He
soon lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness. He died on January 23, 1929. At his side were his son and daughter,
Florence -- who had been with him constantly since his stroke.
The funeral service was attended by Kenesaw Mountain
Landis, NL president John Heydler, AL president E.S. Barnard, Thomas Hickey,
president of the American Association, Ban Johnson, Connie Mack, Phil Ball,
owner of the St. Louis Browns, Michigan athletic director Fielding Yost, and
numerous others. Henry Killilea was put
to rest in Milwaukee’s Calvary Cemetery.
Killilea willed the Milwaukee baseball club to his
daughter Florence, who was president of the club until she died at the age of
29 on June 15. 1931.
The day after Killilea’s death Milwaukee Sentinel
sports editor George Downer wrote, “It was always refreshing and inspiring to
meet and talk with Henry Killilea. He
was unvaryingly cordial and gracious but never effusive. One felt at once that here was a man whose
friendship was sincere and whose enthusiasms were genuine. Never ostentatious, he was always ready to
help a friend. On one occasion he
remarked to the writer that there had never been a time in the preceding
twenty-five years when he was non assisting some deserving young man through
the University of Michigan. Some of
these boys were athletes – but not all of them.
There were many whose names were never blazoned in the sports page
headlines. These men were one of the
gifts to the university to which he felt he owed so much. …He never drank or
smoked and once his heavy day’s work was out of the way, loved nothing so much
as a quiet evening at home with a few friends.
Few knew that he wrote excellent verse and when in a small circle of
close and sympathetic friends he would recite some of his own poems.”[fn] Milwaukee
Sentinel, January 24, 1929.[/fn]
1. Aikens, Andrew J., and Lewis A. Proctor. Men
of Progress. Wisconsin: A Selected List of
Biographical Sketches and Portraits of the
Leaders in Business, Professional, and
Official Life: Together with Short Notes on
The History and Character of Wisconsin.
Madison Evening Wisconsin, 1897.
2. Bentley Historical Library of the University of
Michigan Athletics History, undated newspaper
clippings.
3. Berryman, John R. History of the Bench and Bar
of Wisconsin. Vol. 1. Madison: n. p., 1898.
4. Buege, Bob. “The Birth of the American League.”
SABR 31 convention booklet.
5. Michiganensian, (University of Michigan
yearbook) 1912.
6. Milwaukee Journal, various years.
7. Milwaukee Sentinel, various years.
8. The Palladium (University of Michigan
yearbook) 1884.
9. Pittsburgh Press, Various issues 1903, 1904,
1929.
10. Sporting Life, various issues.
11. Stout, Glenn, and Richard A. Johnson. Red
Sox Century: The Definitive History of
Baseball’s Most Storied Franchise. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Full Name: Henry James Killilea
Born: June 30, 1863 at Poygan, WI (US)
Died: January 23, 1929 at Milwaukee, WI (US)
