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Becker Family and St Louis Baseball
At
the 1897 National League Owners meeting, Edward C. Becker is pictured with St.
Louis Browns’ owner Chris Von der Ahe. Becker had loaned Von der Ahe money for
the baseball team over a decade earlier and was often referred to as his angel.
The debt was not paid and Becker bought the team in 1899. Shortly after that,
Becker struck a partnership deal with the Robison brothers of Ohio.
The deal included a team exchange because St. Louis had great fans and a dismal team (the Browns) while the Cleveland team had a dismal fan-base but a great team. That year’s St. Louis team included Hall of Famers’ Cy Young, Jessie Burkett, and Bobby Wallace.
The newly transplanted Cleveland players refused to play under the name “Browns” because of the former players’ reputation as mean-spirited and obnoxious. Management changed the name to “the Saint Louis.” Later that year due to pressure from the media, the team was dubbed “the Perfecto’s.” The story goes that a fan stated, “What a lovely shade of [Catholic] Cardinal red they are wearing” and the infamous name “Cardinals” was born.
Excerpts from the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat:
March 28, 1899. Edward C. Becker, St. Louis’ new baseball magnate, who is vice-president of the American Baseball and Athletic Exhibition Company of St. Louis, the organization which has gained league recognition as the successor of Sportsman’s Park and Club, returned to St. Louis last night from New York, where he was in attendance at the special meeting of the National League magnates, called for last Friday to settle the St. Louis muddle.
April 15, 1899. Never in the history of the sport, not even in the days of the old champion Brown Stockings, has the St. Louis public shown as much interest in baseball as it has evinced since Frank De Haas Robison and Edward C. Becker became joint owners of the local franchise and placed Patsy Tebeau and his crack team on the home diamond.
The parade, always a feature of the opening day, was started shortly before 10 o’clock. Following the Master of Ceremonies and the team was a long line of carriages. In the first vehicle were Frank DeHaas Robinson, Edward C. Becker and M. Stanley Robison. All along the line of march the party was cheered. Huge bouquets were presented Mr. Robison and Mr. Becker when passing Gaylord & Blessing’s.
According to family records, Becker maintained his minority ownership until 1917.