Morgan Bulkeley was the 1st President of the National League when it formed in 1876. He did so for 1 year. And that’s about it. His contribution to the game of baseball can fit on a post-it note.
Morgan Bulkeley ran the Aetna Life Insurance Company, a company that was founded by his father. He was truly devoted to the insurance business, but felt that the game of baseball was just a pastime. As a backer for the National Association Hartford Dark Blues he was invited by William Hulbert, the founder of the National League, to attend the 1st meeting of the club owners, as a representative of the Hartford franchise. Hulbert admired Bulkeley for his business acumen and nominated him to be the 1st President of the league. Bulkeley’s name was the 1st name drawn, and by pure luck he became the President off the league.
When the post season winter meetings were held, Bulkeley didn’t even bother to attend. William Hulbert was then selected as the 2nd President of the league. Bulkeley remained associated with the Hartford team until it moved to Brooklyn at the end of the 1877 season. He would have no other ties to the game.
Bulkeley became the President of the Aetna Life Insurance Company in 1879, and held that job until he died in 1922.
When Ban Johnson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937 based on his service as the 1st President of the American League(an honor he well deserves) it was deemed that the 1st President of the National League should be inducted as well.
I’m sure that Morgan Bulkeley was a nice guy, and a great insurance man, as well as a fine Governor of the state of Connecticut, but he deserves being in the Hall of Fame just a little bit more than Abner Doubleday, and just a little bit more than me.
I’m from Connecticut, and I’ve never heard of the fat bastard. He’s in The Hall? What a joke.
Not a surprise that CT would have an insurance man as its governor. Hartford was all about insurance, at one time.
Goes to show that HOF membership has almost always been arbitrary. It helps to be one of the good ole boys.
Interesting series, Bill
Comment by William Miller — December 9, 2010 @ 9:55 pm |
Oh, quit being modest, you deserve it as much as he.
v
Comment by verdun2 — December 10, 2010 @ 9:47 am |
Thank You V…….I think!!
Comment by Kevin G. — December 10, 2010 @ 2:40 pm |
In the volumes of journals Abner Doubleday kept that are still prized by historians for their record of what military life was like in the Civil War and for a few years thereafter, he never even mentioned baseball. He may never have seen a game of any kind. But then, Doubleday isn’t in the Hall of Fame. I wonder if Bulkeley ever saw a professional game?
They say Lord Stanley was called back to England because his father died and he had to become the new Earl of Derby, and so he never saw a game in the tournament for the trophy he’d just donated. But at least he loved his game and donated the Stanley Cup, so he’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bulkeley? Probably the most dubious Hall selection in baseball, ahead of Candy (I didn’t really throw the first curve, but don’t tell anyone) Cummings and anybody ever included in a Franklin P. Adams poem.
Comment by Uncle Mike — December 10, 2010 @ 10:44 am |
I seem to recall reading somewhere that there was another Abner Doubleday, possibly a cousin, that might be the guy that Abner Graves remembers playing baseball with. Either way your right, Doubleday had somewhere around 60 journals and he never once mentioned the game of baseball. Someone should tell Bud Selig.
Comment by Kevin G. — December 10, 2010 @ 2:46 pm |
[...] over as the 2nd President of the NL in 1877 after the not so dynamic, yet Hall of Fame worthy(?) Morgan Bulkeley. He immediately expelled the franchises in Philadelphia and New York for not completing their 1876 [...]
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