Charles Ebbets

Charles Ebbets
Charles H. Ebbets Sr., circa 1915
Born	(1859-10-29)October 29, 1859 New York City
Died	April 18, 1925(1925-04-18) (aged 65) New York City
Occupation	architect, Owner of Brooklyn Dodgers

Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. (October 29, 1859–April 18, 1925) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1902 to 1925.

Charlie was born in New York City at his parents’ home at 31 Clarke Street on October 29 1859. His father was John B. Ebbets (ca. 1824–March 16, 1888), who owned a tavern at the corner of Hudson and Dominick Streets in lower Manhattan when Charlie was born. John was of the fifth generation of the Ebbets family in New York City, a descendant of Daniel Ebbets (September 14, 1665–after 1724), a brickmaker who had arrived in New York from England in 1700. His mother, Anna Maria Quick (ca. 1824–July 8, 1871), was in the fifth generation of a Dutch family that had been in New York since the 1640s. Charlie first attended Public School 39 on Clark Street but left that school when his father moved to Astoria shortly after 1871.

Following his schooling, Charlie took up residence at 154 Alexander Avenue near 135th. His first job was with Dick & Fitzgerald, a publishing firm at 18 Ann Street in Manhattan. He then began work as an architect with the firm of William T. Beer. His work there as a draftsman and building designer would serve him well in later years when he decided to build a baseball stadium. He next became a bookkeeper with Frank Leslie’s publishing house, a job he kept until he turned his attention to baseball.

But baseball was not Charlie Ebbets’ first sport. It was bowling. He was a member of the Prospect Club, the Carleton Club, and the Commonwealth Council team of the Royal Arcanum Bowling League. In 1889 he played with the Stars of South Brooklyn and the Lincoln Council Bowlers. The following year he joined the Prospects, the arch-rivals of the Lincoln Council team, and was elected their captain. In 1893, his bowling average was 170 in more than fifty games. That year the Brooklyn Eagle stated, “He is considered one of the swiftest and, at the same time, truest bowlers in Brooklyn.”

In 1883 his brother Jack had introduced Charlie to Joseph Doyle and George Taylor, friends of his who had recently formed the Brooklyn Base Ball Association with Ferdinand Abell and Charles Byrne. Charlie got a job working for the team selling tickets, score cards, and peanuts at their Washington Park stadium at Fifth Avenue and Third Street. He printed the score cards himself. In 1891 the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (as they were then known) moved to a larger field called Eastern Park. Several years later, they had to move again, this time to the 18,000-seat “Washington Park 2nd” at the original site. On the afternoon of April 30, 1898, the first game was played at the new Washington Park. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote the following day, “The ball season is on in Brooklyn—inaugurated at the new grounds in South Brooklyn yesterday before a crowd of 15,000.” Unfortunately, the Eagle also reported that “The heart of the fan to-day is heavy as lead,” as Brooklyn lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6–4.