Hank Peters

During Hank Peters’ 12 seasons (1976-1987) as the Baltimore Orioles’ general manager, his teams won at least 90 games six times. Twice he was named The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year – following Baltimore’s 1979 American League pennant and 1983 World Series championship.

But Peters accomplished much more over his 45 years in professional baseball. He acquired the foundation of the 1970s Oakland A’s dynasty, for example, and spearheaded the construction of the Cleveland Indians’ strong 1990s clubs. “I’m fortunate because I’ve achieved success,” he said. “You get the criticism when things don’t go well, but you also get a lot of credit when things do go well. Somewhere in between, maybe, lies the real person.”1

Henry John “Hank” Peters Jr. was born on September 16, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents – Henry and Estelle “Stella” (Biehl) Peters – already had a daughter, Virginia May. Both of Hank’s paternal great-grandparents were from Germany, as was his maternal grandmother. His father cut meat at a retail market.

By 1930, Hank’s parents were divorced. He and his sister stayed with their mother in her parents’ home. Hank’s maternal grandfather worked in a cigar store. His mother cleaned houses to support her children.2

St. Louis had two major-league teams during Peters’ childhood. The American League Browns usually finished with losing records. From his birth until he was 10, however, the National League Cardinals won five pennants and three World Series. Peters attended Cleveland High School, about five miles south of Sportsman’s Park.3 “I had always been quite a baseball fan,” he recalled. “I played a lot of baseball in St. Louis, although I wasn’t good enough to play professionally.”4

Peters’ military registration card from December 1942 listed him as 5-foot-10, 155 pounds, with a scar on his left forehead. The Emerson Electric Company was his employer. With the United States embroiled in World War II, Peters was inducted into the Army at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, in March 1943. He spent three years in the service, including 27 months in England, France, and Germany with infantry and armored divisions.5

After his 1946 discharge, Peters answered a newspaper ad placed by the St. Louis Browns.6 “[The Browns’ farm director] Jim [McLaughlin] hired me into baseball,” he recalled. “He wasn’t a guy who liked to go and sit at ball games, but he loved the organizational work, and he was very good at it.”7

Peters was the assistant director of the Browns’ minor-league camp in Pine Bluff, Arkansas from 1947 to 1949.8 He estimated that 450 players came the first year. Browns GM Bill DeWitt had learned the value of a strong farm system from his early-career mentor, Branch Rickey. “In those days, if you could write a good letter describing your skills, we were liable to send you a contract – for a nominal amount of money, of course – and invite you to spring training,” Peters said. “But when you got there, you only had five or six days to prove yourself.”9

In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the major leagues’ racial barrier. On July 17 – less than two weeks after Larry Doby integrated the AL with the Cleveland Indians – Hank Thompson became the Browns’ first African American player. The second, future Hall of Famer Willard Brown, debuted two days later. Peters had signed both from the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro American League club.10 Thompson and Brown batted a combined .221 before they were released on August 23.11 The Browns’ next Black player, Satchel Paige, did not join the team until 1951.

Peters was promoted to assistant farm director in 1950.12 He retained that position after Bill Veeck bought the Browns in 1951. But 1953 proved to be the team’s last season in St. Louis. After new Cardinals owner Gussie Busch purchased Sportsman’s Park, Peters recalled, “There was no way the Browns were going to able to stay there.”13

Veeck attempted to move the Browns to Baltimore before the 1953 season, but his fellow owners denied permission. When they approved the transfer that fall, Veeck’s selling the team was a prerequisite. “They [the new owners] let the whole front office go other than Jim [McLaughlin],” Peters said.14

Peters spent 1954 as the GM of the Burlington (Iowa) Bees in the Class B Three-I League.15 But meanwhile, another major-league team moved to Missouri. On January 22, 1955, the Kansas City (formerly Philadelphia) Athletics named Peters their farm director.16

The A’s were owned by Arnold Johnson (and his brother Earl). Peters recalled that they employed only about three scouts when he started. “Our budget wasn’t just limited, it was extremely strict,” he said.17 That summer, the team advertised tryout camps in local newspapers instructing 17- to 22-year-olds with their own equipment to contact Peters.18

After Arnold Johnson died in March 1960, Charlie Finley purchased the A’s in December. Four months later, Peters was fired. “Peters was let out because he signed a young prospect for $35,000, without consulting Finley first,” reported the Henry County (Missouri) Democrat.19 (It was likely Bill Landis.20)

“It appears Mr. Finley wants everything cleared with him,” Peters said. “Signing the young player was the final incident but if it hadn’t been that it would have been something else.”21

A few weeks later, Peters joined the Cincinnati Reds, where his former boss, DeWitt, was the GM.22 Meanwhile, the GM that Finley had hired shortly after purchasing the A’s, Frank Lane, was fired before season’s end. Kansas City’s player personnel director, George Selkirk, quit. And Bill Bergesch – who had assumed Peters’ duties – was heading to the expansion New York Mets.23 The A’s new GM, Pat Friday, had an insurance background – indeed, he came from Finley’s insurance company.24 Nevertheless, in December 1961, Peters resigned from the Reds to become the A’s farm director.25 “I elected to go back to Kansas City the second time because I felt Charlie wouldn’t be too much of a hindrance,” he explained decades later. “And, frankly, he wasn’t, not at first, anyway.”26

One of Peters’ first challenges involved future six-time All-Star Bert Campaneris, whom the A’s had signed the previous year, then released because he couldn’t leave Cuba.27 “First, we had to get Campy out, then we had to get him a visa, then we had to persuade him to sign with us, then, when we finally got him to spring training, we had to convert him from a catcher into a shortstop,” Peters recalled.28

The A’s struggled in the standings, but Peters made substantial headway in 1964 by signing two teenagers who became Hall of Famers – Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers. Future All-Stars Joe Rudi and Blue Moon Odom were also signed that year.

The A’s announced that Peters would become their GM on June 1, 1965. But in May, Friday acknowledged that Peters had been running the club all season.29 In June, the major leagues held their inaugural first-year player draft and Kansas City owned the first pick. Peters selected Rick Monday and signed him shortly after the outfielder’s Arizona State Sun Devils won the College World Series. In later rounds, the A’s chose future stalwarts Sal Bando and Gene Tenace.

But the A’s finished last again with 103 losses. After the Dodgers won the 1965 World Series, Los Angeles Scouting Director Al Campanis confirmed that Finley had offered him Kansas City’s GM job.30 Campanis elected to remain with the Dodgers, but Finley promoted Eddie Lopat to “executive vice president” with Peters assisting him. “Peters is no longer general manager,” Finley said. “But… titles don’t mean much around here.”31

Finley insisted that Peters hadn’t been demoted but most observers disagreed.32 Cleveland Indians GM Gabe Paul requested permission to interview Peters.33 Moments after the A’s informed reporters at baseball’s winter meetings that Alvin Dark would replace departing manager Haywood Sullivan, the club announced that Peters had been hired by the Indians.34 Years later, Peters shared his parting words. “I said, ‘Charlie, don’t bother hiring anyone to be your general manager because you don’t need one. He took my advice. He never appointed another general manager.”35

In January 1966, one Ohio newspaper described: “To the casual observer, Peters looks like he might be a Wall Street broker rather than a baseball executive. His suits are neatly tailored, he wears horn-rimmed glasses, and is quick with a smile. But he has a reputation for efficiency and shrewdness… Peters strikes you as a very loyal person… one reason why he is known to have very few baseball people who aren’t his friends.”36

Peters was promoted to director of player personnel and minor league operations prior to the 1967 season and named an Indians vice president.37 In 1968, Cleveland hired Dark – fired by Finley – to manage. Dark credited Peters with assembling the A’s talented core that he left behind and predicted, “In three years, they will be heard from.”38 The A’s (by then in Oakland) won 101 games in 1971, followed by consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to 1974 (Dark was rehired for the last year of the three-peat after Dick Williams – the manager in ’72 and ’73 – resigned).

In 1968, Peters declined an opportunity to return to Kansas City with the expansion Royals franchise, which would debut the following year.39 The rebuilding Indians won 86 games and finished third. When divisional play began in 1969, however, Cleveland sank to the AL East basement. That July, Indians owner Vernon Stouffer abolished the club’s traditional GM position and replaced it with a “council on player personnel” featuring himself, Paul, Peters, and Dark.40 Stouffer told Peters that one-third of the team’s $1.2 million farm system budget would be slashed. “I said, ‘Are you going to keep the club?’” Peters recalled. “I said, ‘The reason I ask is the things you do in player development are never reflected immediately. If you intend to keep the club for a few years, you’ve just committed suicide.’”41

The major-league Indians kept struggling. On July 30, 1971, Stouffer fired Dark, restored Paul to the GM role, and announced, “the committee is kaput.”42 Eight days earlier, however, Peters had announced he would become the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), effective December 1.43 A screening committee had nominated him to replace the retiring Phil Piton.44

In his new position, Peters was the de facto head of the minor leagues. The Class D, Class C, and Class B levels had disappeared over his first quarter-century in professional baseball. “It’s a supply and demand thing,” Peters noted. “Baseball lost a lot of its fans to television, participant sports and other recreational activities since World War II. We’re just going to have to win them back.”45

Peters was a strong advocate of local ownership for minor-league clubs. “You get a lot more community involvement. You have people whose primary interest is pulling fans into the park,” he explained. “When you have a product, you advertise it and promote it. There’s no reason for baseball to be any different.”46 Peters initiated the President’s Trophy for the community that best achieved those objectives. The first recipient, in 1974, was Rochester, New York – home of the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate.47

Meanwhile, the GM of Baltimore’s big-league team – Frank Cashen – lobbied for Peters to replace him so he could focus on business opportunities with Orioles’ owner Jerry Hoffberger. Peters initially spurned the offer shortly after accepting his NAPBL job, and he said that turning down Cashen became almost an annual ritual.48 But on November 3, 1975, the Orioles called a press conference to announce Peters as their new GM. “I had a desire to get back into the competitive aspects of baseball, and there are not too many organizations I would have been interested in joining,” he said.49

Although the Orioles had won two division titles in the four seasons since their last pennant, Baltimore was an older team with a bare farm system. Peters attributed the dearth of prospects to the franchise’s increased reliance on the Major League Scouting Bureau.50 He hired two people that he trusted from their shared tenure with the Athletics: Clyde Kluttz to lead player development, and farm director Tom Giordano.51

The Orioles’ incumbent chief scout, Jim Russo, and Baltimore manager Earl Weaver had what baseball historian Daniel Okrent called “a ferociously antagonistic relationship.” In his book Nine Innings, Okrent opined, “The most valuable function performed by Hank Peters … was probably his mediation of the running battle between the two men.”52

Baltimore needed a left-handed hitter. During spring training in 1976, Finley informed Peters that Reggie Jackson – a future Hall of Famer about to turn 30 – was available. Seven days before Opening Day, Peters swapped three players to Oakland for Jackson and two others.53 “Reggie at that point was a complete player,” Peters said later. “Guys like Reggie just don’t come along every day.”54

Jackson initially refused to join the Orioles, and his salary demands were substantially more than the compensation on which the club had just agreed with Jim Palmer, winner of two of the last three AL Cy Young Awards. “The one thing we had to recognize, and I think we did it immediately – maybe some other clubs didn’t – … was the precedent setting contract,” Peters said later.55 After missing the first 16 games, Jackson agreed to a one-year deal and said, “I decided to report because of the consistent humanness and sensitivity toward me on the part of Hank Peters.”56

On June 15, the Orioles dealt disgruntled southpaw Ken Holtzman, 35-year-old catcher Elrod Hendricks, and three young pitchers – Doyle Alexander, Grant Jackson, and Jimmy Freeman – to the Yankees. Three of the five players Baltimore acquired – catcher Rick Dempsey, and pitchers Scott McGregor and Tippy Martinez –wound up in the Orioles’ team Hall of Fame. “I had one big advantage,” Peters said later. “Clyde Kluttz … had been with the Yankees for five years … so he knew McGregor and Tippy, which was a big help.”57

That summer, Peters sent a memorandum to the Orioles’ board of directors outlining the obstacles to sustained success. “Our crowds were small, our TV [revenue] was zilch, and we didn’t have much of a revenue stream. And we were a public corporation,” he explained. “I said, ‘I’m not certain the Orioles are going to be able to compete in the future because we do not have the revenue to support the type of contracts you’re going to have to give the better players.’”58

Reggie Jackson, for example, signed a five-year, $2.9 million deal with the New York Yankees that fall.59 The Orioles had nothing to show for the player they had traded a 20-game winner (Mike Torrez) and a future MVP (Don Baylor) to acquire. Free agency also cost Baltimore All-Star second baseman Bobby Grich and 20-game winner Wayne Garland that offseason. “At the time, we didn’t even know what form the reserve system would take. … I felt certain Jackson … was signable. The way the thing has evolved, you have to be almost certain of that part of it before you make a deal, but I didn’t know that then,” Peters acknowledged in 1979. “It makes me believe more than ever in the farm system, the old way of keeping the prospects coming.”60

Peters estimated that the Orioles needed to draw 1.2 million fans to break even, a figure the team had reached only once since moving to Baltimore.61 Weaver led the club to 97 and 90 victories in 1977 and 1978, respectively, but Jackson and the Yankees won the World Series both years while the Orioles fell short of their attendance goals.

“I told our staff, ‘We’re never going to draw people here unless we tap that Washington [DC] market,’ ” Peters recalled. He established the “Designated Hitters” to increase season ticket sales. The Orioles paid Washington-based WTOP to carry their radio broadcasts. Peters also negotiated new radio and television agreements with Baltimore stations. “We shopped around and made a TV deal with [then CBS affiliate] Channel 2, and a lot of this deal was made not on the basis of getting more revenue, but promotion. … Then we took a chance on the radio with [youth-oriented] WFBR, and they promoted the hell out of us.”62

In 1979, the Orioles drew a [then] franchise record attendance of nearly 1.7 million. “The biggest thing of all was what was happening on the field,” Peters said. “We won games that were so damn dramatic. It was one of those storybook years.”63 Meanwhile, Hoffberger completed the sale of the Orioles to Washington-based lawyer Edward Bennett Williams in August. Previous rumors that the team could be moved to the nation’s capital had caused Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer to initiate a Save the Orioles campaign.64 But the ballclub’s success at the gate largely put those fears to rest.

Baltimore won the AL East with a 102-57 record and defeated the California Angels in the ALCS before falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a seven-game World Series. Peters had acquired the Orioles’ saves leader, Don Stanhouse, and Gary Roenicke – an outfielder who hit 25 homers – in a trade. Another productive outfielder, John Lowenstein, was a waiver claim. One of Baltimore’s rare free agent signings, pitcher Steve Stone, won 11 games. (Stone won 25 and the AL Cy Young Award in 1980.) That fall, Peters was named baseball’s Executive of the Year by The Sporting News and United Press International. The Orioles extended his contract by five years.65

Cashen, who returned to baseball as the New York Mets’ GM in early 1980, described the wide scope of responsibilities that only a few of his old-school peers still handled. “Runs the gamut from putting together a team to negotiating contracts for radio and television, running a stadium and dealing with the municipality,” Cashen said. “Hank’s perfect for the job.”66

Peters insisted that Orioles players wear jackets and ties on road trips, and they were not allowed to have beards.67 He believed that multi-year contracts undermined players’ incentive to produce. “I really don’t know how any of us would perform if we were in our 20s and someone gave us the financial wherewithal to be secure for the rest of our lives,” he said.68 Under his leadership, Orioles policy was to avoid salary arbitration hearings because “the process creates an adversary situation” between players and management.69

In 1980, the Orioles won 100 games but missed the playoffs. Peters later called his first five years with Baltimore the “most challenging in my career.” He explained, “A month after I joined the Orioles … the old reserve system was thrown out … so it was a whole new game. … We all had to kind of feel our way through this new era in baseball.”70

During the unprecedented split season because of the players’ strike in 1981. Baltimore finished two games out of first place in each half. With 94 victories in 1982, the Orioles were tied with the Brewers atop the AL East entering the regular season finale, but Milwaukee won the division in a head-to-head showdown.

Weaver retired, but the 1983 Orioles won the franchise’s third World Series championship under new manager Joe Altobelli, The MVP of Baltimore’s ALCS victory over the White Sox was Mike Boddicker, a soft-tossing 26-year-old rookie who had led the league in shutouts after appearing in just 10 big-league games the previous three years. “Hank Peters liked me,” Boddicker said. “Hank would bring me up every year against Weaver’s wishes.”71 Dempsey, the World Series MVP, was one of three Orioles remaining from the 1976 trade with the Yankees. The others were Baltimore’s 1983 leaders in victories (McGregor) and saves (Tippy Martinez). Peters was named The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year for the second time.

Peters had married Dorothy (Kleimeier) in 1950. He and “Dottie” had two children: daughter Sharon and son Steve.72 About an hour after the final out of the 1983 World Series, Peters’ first grandson, Christopher, was born. “When I finally reached my dad … I said, ‘Congratulations, you have a World Series baby,’” Steve Peters described. “Boy, was he happy that night.”73

The Orioles dropped to fifth place in 1984. During the team’s postseason tour of Japan, Edward Bennett Williams told Peters he intended to become much more involved in running the team. Peters advised him, “We’re getting old. You’re going to have to go through a transitional period where maybe we don’t win.”74 But before Peters returned to the United States, the owner – battling cancer and already in his mid-60s – scheduled meetings with representatives for Fred Lynn and Lee Lacy. Both of those free agent outfielders signed with Baltimore, as did relief pitcher Don Aase. “Was it a change in Oriole philosophy?” Peters asked that summer. “Maybe we were more aggressive and more willing to spend money.”75

But the Orioles did not improve in 1985. Altobelli lost his job in June, and Williams convinced Weaver to unretire. “The only reason he [Weaver] came back was for the money,” Peters said. “When [Williams] told me what he was going to do. I said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’”76 Two weeks later, the Orioles traded for speedster Alan Wiggins, whose recurring substance abuse issues made him available. “I couldn’t believe we signed Wiggins,” Peters said later. “The guy had been in drug rehab. I told Williams, ‘We’ve never had a player like this.’”77

Weaver retired again after the 1986 Orioles finished last. That summer, Cooperstown-bound first baseman Eddie Murray demanded a trade. “He [Williams] was a difficult guy to work for,” Peters observed. “He thought if he said something critical it would be a motivator. It had the opposite effect on Murray, who was a very sensitive guy.”78

The 1987 Orioles finished 67-95. Despite having two years left on his contract, Peters – then the majors’ longest-tenured GM – was fired. “I know I didn’t get smart overnight, and I didn’t get dumb overnight either,” he said.79 Citing his dwindling influence over Baltimore’s farm system, Peters remarked, “In a way I’m relieved to be relieved.”80 Under his leadership, none of Baltimore’s first-round draft picks had played more than 20 games in the majors, though 1987 first-rounder Pete Harnisch went on to earn 111 victories.

Peters, then 63, was not unemployed long. On November 2, 1987, the only team with a worse record than the Orioles – the 101-loss Indians – hired him to return to Cleveland as the GM. “When I took the job I told [Indians owner] Dick Jacobs I would stay three or four years and that I didn’t expect to win during this period,” Peters recalled. “But I said, ‘What I’ll try to do is give you the foundation so that you will someday become a winner.’ So he gave me a free hand, and I mean a free hand. He provided the money.”81

From Baltimore, Peters brought Giordano to run the farm system, Dan O’Dowd as Director of Player Development, and John Hart to be his eventual successor. After the 1989 season, Peters orchestrated the trade of slugger Joe Carter to the San Diego Padres for Sandy Alomar Jr. and Carlos Baerga, both of whom earned induction into the Indians’ team Hall of Fame.82 During Peters’ four years with Cleveland, the club drafted future All-Stars like Jim Thome, Manny Ramírez, and Charles Nagy. Two months before Peters retired on September 18, 1991, he hired first-time manager Mike Hargrove. From 1995 to 1999, Hargrove guided the Indians to five consecutive AL Central titles and two pennants. “I don’t know that he [Peters] gets enough credit for the turnaround in Cleveland because he had a huge hand in it – a huge hand,” Hargrove said.83

In 2001, the Orioles welcomed Peters to their team Hall of Fame. Enshrined with him that day were Boddicker and Elrod Hendricks, whom Peters had hired as Baltimore’s first African American coach.84

When Peters was asked in 1985 if he wished he had spent more of his life on interests outside of baseball, he replied, “I don’t really have any regrets about the way things have worked out for me personally. But you do pay a price to be involved in baseball. … that price is that you give up an awful lot of your private and personal life.”85 Peters’ daughter recalled that sometimes during baseball seasons, “Two weeks would go by, and we wouldn’t talk to him.” But, she added, “When he was home, he never took up tennis or golf or anything. When he was home, he was home.”86

In retirement, Peters maintained his residence in Baltimore. He also purchased an oceanfront condominium in Highland Beach, Florida. After his wife died in 2010, he moved to Highland Beach fulltime. His daughter recalled that he enjoyed reading on his balcony and complaining that there was too much football coverage in the newspaper.87

Peters was 90 when he died on January 4, 2015, following complications from a stroke. He was survived by two grandchildren in addition to his son and daughter. The Glick Family Funeral Home in Boca Raton, Florida, hosted his memorial service.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com, and sabr.org/bioproject.

Notes

1 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat,’” Maryland Business & Living, September 1985 (vol. 9, issue 15): 24.

2 Bruce Weber, “Hank Peters, 90, Builder of Baseball Winners, Dies,” New York Times, January 7, 2015: A20.

3 “Peters to Assist Browns’ Minor League Director,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 26, 1950: 4E.

4 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat.’”

5 “Peters to Assist Browns’ Minor League Director.”

6 Weber, “Hank Peters, 90, Builder of Baseball Winners, Dies.”

7 John Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards, (New York: Contemporary Books, 2001): 38.

8 “Peters to Assist Browns’ Minor League Director.”

9 Frederic Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s,” (Baltimore) Sun Magazine, April 5, 1981: 11.

10 Bob Luke, Integrating the Orioles, (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2016): 14.

11 “No official explanation was given [for their release] except that the men failed to reach major league standards.” Thompson, 21, hit .256 in 78 at-bats. In 67 plate appearances Brown, 32, batted .179. United Press International, “Browns Drop 2 Negro Players,” Pittsburgh Press, August 24, 1947: 27.

12 “Peters to Assist Browns’ Minor League Director.”

13 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 8.

14 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 10.

15 Associated Press, “Pat Friday Ousted; Hank Peters New Manager in KC,” Sedalia (Missouri) Democrat, April 7, 1965: 14.

16 Associated Press, “Peters, Ex-Brownie Official, Goes with A’s,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 23, 1955: 14A.

17 Associated Press, “Pat Friday Ousted; Hank Peters New Manager in KC.”

18 “From the Sidelines,” Daily News-Democrat (Festus, Missouri), June 8, 1955: 6.

19 “Feuding Frankie May Leave K.C. for Houston,” Henry County (Missouri) Democrat, May 11, 1961: 1.

20 In an Associated Press story headlined “A’s Fire Peters; Farm Director,” published by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on April 26, 1961, the prospect is identified as a left-handed pitcher. Landis, a southpaw, signed with Kansas City that spring, and his SABR biography notes that his signing bonus was $35,000. Bill Nowlin, “Bill Landis,” https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-landis/ (last accessed November 26, 2022).

21 Associated Press, “A’s Fire Peters; Farm Director,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 26, 1961: 1C.

22 Associated Press, “Hank Peters Takes Farm Job with Reds,” Moberly (Missouri) Monitor-Index, May 16, 1961: 8.

23 Red Smith, “Officials Quitting ‘Poor Risk’ A’s,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1961: 33.

24 United Press International, “A Dream Becomes a Nightmare in Kansas City,” New York Times, January 12, 1964: S2.

25 Associated Press, “Peters to A’s,” Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), December 7, 1961: 62.

26 Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s.”

27 “La Vida Voices: The Game with Bert Campaneris,” La Vida Baseball, July 23, 2018, https://www.lavidabaseball.com/la-vida-voices-bert-campaneris/ (last accessed November 26, 2022).

28 Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s.”

29 Associated Press, “A’s Swap Blanchard,” Moberly Monitor-Index, May 4, 1965: 8.

30 Associated Press, “Dodgers Scout Offered GM Job with A’s,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), October 15, 1965: 5D.

31 Associated Press, “Lopat Moves Up with A’s,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 1965: 32.

32 United Press International,” Lopat Named Finley’s Top Aide,” Philadelphia Daily News, October 28, 1965: 52.

33 Milton Richman, “Finley Won’t Let Williams Go Without Fight,” Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), October 25, 1973: 6.

34 United Press International, “Alvin Dark KC’s Choice,” Austin (Texas) Statesman, November 29, 1965: 27.

35 Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s.”

36 Hank Kozloski, “New Indian Farm Boss Plows Straight Furrow,” Daily Reporter (Dover, Ohio), January 12, 1966: 31.

37 “Indians Reveal Office Changes,” Medina County (Ohio) Gazette, January 26, 1967: 9.

38 “Tribe Pilot in ‘Dark,’” Sandusky (Ohio) Register, February 1, 1968: 14.

39 Associated Press, “Cleveland’s Peters Turn Down KC Job,” Daily Reporter (Dover, Ohio), January 19, 1968: 17.

40 Steve Morrow, “Owner of Last Place Indians Reorganize; Dark Has More Power,” Journal-Tribune (Maryville, Ohio), July 9, 1969: 6.

41 Murray Chass, “Rise and Pall of the Indians,” New York Times, July 2, 1991: B10.

42 Associated Press, “Dark Not Only Casualty in Reshuffle,” Daily Reporter, July 31, 1971: 12.

43 Associated Press, “‘Hank’ Peters Accepts Job with Minors,” Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio), July 23, 1971: 10.

44 United Press International, “Two Candidates,” Daily Reporter, March 27, 1971: 13.

45 Karl O’Quinn, “Minors Stabilizing,” San Antonio (Texas) Express, May 25, 1972: 1E.

46 Associated Press, “Local Ownership of Minor League Clubs Tops Baseball Meeting,” Anderson (Indiana) Daily Bulletin, November 1, 1973: 19.

47 Larry Bump, “Wings Receive Award as Best Organization,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), December 3, 1974: 2D.

48 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat.’”

49 “Lou Hatter, “Peters Replaces Orioles’ Cashen at Helm of Club,” Baltimore Sun, November 4, 1975: C7.

50 James Edward Miller, The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants & Profits in Baltimore, (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1990): 242.

51 Lou Hatter, “Birds Name Giordano Top Scout,” Baltimore Sun, February 15, 1976: B1.

52 Daniel Okrent, Nine Innings, New York: McGraw-Hill (1985): 75.

53 To acquire Jackson and pitchers Ken Holtzman and Bill VanBommel from Oakland, Baltimore traded outfielder Don Baylor, and pitchers Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell.

54 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 285.

55 Miller, The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants & Profits in Baltimore: 224.

56 Thomas Boswell, “Jackson Reports, Sees Why Needed,” Washington Post, May 1, 1976.

57 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 297.

58 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 290.

59 Murray Chass, “Jackson Signs Yankee Contract for Five Years and $2.9 Million,” New York Times, November 30, 1976: 1.

60 Bob Maisel, “After a Rocky Start with Birds, Peters Corners Top Awards,” Baltimore Sun, November 17, 1979: B5.

61 Miller, The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants & Profits in Baltimore: 226, 230.

62 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 330.

63 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 330.

64 Miller, The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants & Profits in Baltimore: 238.

65 Orioles 1987 Media Guide: 5.

66 Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s.”

67 Mike Klingaman, “GM Built O’s World Series Teams,” Baltimore Sun, January 5, 2015: A1.

68 Kelly, “What He Says Goes… With the O’s.”

69 Miller, The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants & Profits in Baltimore: 263.

70 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat.’”

71 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 364.

72 Weber, “Hank Peters, 90, Builder of Baseball Winners, Dies.”

73 Klingaman, “GM Built O’s World Series Teams.”

74 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 379.

75 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat.’”

76 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 383.

77 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 387.

78 Luke, Integrating the Orioles: 126.

79 Tim Kurkijan, “Peters, ‘Relieved to be Relieved’ of his GM Job,” Baltimore Sun, October 6, 1987: 1B.

80 Tim Kurkjian, “Williams, ‘Embarrassed’ by Orioles, Fires Peters,” Baltimore Sun, October 6, 1987: 1A.

81 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 490.

82 Paul Hoynes, “Architect of Cleveland Indians Renaissance, Dead at 90,” Cleveland.com, January 4, 2015, https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2015/01/hank_peters_architect_of_cleve.html (last accessed December 17, 2022).

83 Roch Kubatko, “For Hendricks, O’s Hall is ‘Icing on the Cake,’” Baltimore Sun, August 27, 2001: 6D.

84 Kubatko, “For Hendricks, O’s Hall is ‘Icing on the Cake.’”

85 “Hank Peters: ‘Walk Softly and Carry a Big Bat.’”

86 Emily J. Minor, “Obituary: Hank Peters,” Coastal Star (South Florida), January 4, 2015, https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/obituary-hank-peters (last accessed December 17, 2022).

87 Minor, “Obituary: Hank Peters.”