View Single Post
  #12  
Old 05-20-2009, 03:13 PM
Leon's Avatar
Leon Leon is online now
Leon
peasant/forum owner
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: near Dallas
Posts: 34,493
Default sporteq

League Park (Indians) was renamed Dunn Field as of the1916 season. This card was probably given at the ballpark in honor of that. Strange thing about this card is that it has some kind of metallic coating (definitely period) that it was made with and it's sort of oxidizing, but not too bad. And from our friends at Wiki here is a blurb on the new owner of the Indians in 1916.


Jim Dunn (1865 - June 1922), aka James Christopher Dunn, aka "Sunny Jim" Dunn, was a businessman and baseball team owner.
1. Biography

Dunn was born in Marshalltown, Iowa and became wealthy through his partnership in a railroad construction firm. In 1916 he was recruited by American League president Ban Johnson to head up a syndicate to buy the Cleveland Indians baseball team from Charles Somers for $500,000. [1] During his tenure the team's ballpark League Park was renamed "Dunn Field" and in 1920 the Indians won their first World Series. At his death in 1922 at age 57, control of the team passed to his surviving spouse and his estate, thus making Mrs. Dunn one of the first women to own a major league baseball team. [2] In 1927 ownership of the Indians changed hands when Dunn’s widow, by then known as Mrs. George Pross, sold the franchise for $1 million to a group headed by Alva Bradley. [3]
Reply With Quote