Charles Somers

Charles W. Somers (October 13, 1868 – June 29, 1934) was an American executive in Cleveland, Ohio's coal industry who also achieved prominence in Major League Baseball. The financial resources from his business interests allowed Somers to become one of the principal founders of baseball's American League in 1901.

At the insistence of league president Ban Johnson, Somers and Jack Kilfoyl, who owned a popular Cleveland men's furnishings store, became the first owners of the Cleveland franchise.

Kilfoyl was Cleveland's first team president and treasurer, while Somers was its vice president and main financier.

Somers was also the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, a team which had no official nickname until 1908, but was initially sometimes called the "Somersets" in his honor. Residing in Cleveland and traveling to Boston, Somers was also the American League's vice-president during the trade war for independence of and equality with the National League which was won in 1903 with the playing of the first World Series.

Somers' money helped keep some American League teams afloat in their first years, including the St. Louis Browns, Charles Comiskey's Chicago White Sox and Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics.

Somers sold his interest in the Boston club in 1903 to Henry Killilea. In 1910 Kilfoyl took ill and sold his interest in Cleveland to Somers.

Somers invested in one of the first baseball minor league farm systems, ultimately controlling teams in Toledo, Ohio; Ironton, Ohio; Waterbury, Connecticut; Portland, Oregon; and the New Orleans Pelicans.

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