Barrow, Edward G.
Baseball
b. May 10, 1868, near Springfield, IL
d. Dec. 15, 1953
Baseball's first real general manager, Barrow was the man behind the New York Yankee dynasties of the 1920s and 1930s. He became involved with organized baseball in 1894 as the partner of Harry Stevens, who operated the concessions for the Pittsburgh team in the National League.
Barrow then served as a minor league manager, owner, and executive, while also promoting boxing matches, before becoming manager of the Detroit Tigers in 1903. He left that job midway through the 1904 season and became a minor league manager once more, then spent three years in the hotel business.
In 1910, Barrow returned to baseball as a manager in Montreal and he was named president of the Eastern League in 1912. The Boston Red Sox hired him as manager in 1918 and Barrow guided them to the world championship that year, aided by a young left-handed pitcher named Babe Ruth.
The Red Sox slipped to sixth place in 1919 and finished fifth in 1920, when Ruth was sold to the Yankees. After that season, Barrow became the Yankees' business manager, but he was given control of all baseball operations, which included the job of signing and trading players. Within a short time, his title was general manager.
In Barrow's first eight years with the Yankees, they won six pennants. Barrow established a network of scouts to seek out talent all over the country and in 1932 he began to put together an extensive system of minor league farm teams. The Yankees won four more pennants during the 1930s and Barrow was named team president in 1939. After four more pennants, the Yankees came under new ownership in 1945. Barrow resigned two years later after clashes with the new owners, but they honored him with an "Ed Barrow Day" on May 13, 1950.