SABR 52: Chris Von der Ahe selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend of 2024
AUGUST 8, 2024 — Christian “Chris” Frederick Wilhelm Von der Ahe has been selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend for 2024. The announcement was made on Thursday, August 8 at the Nineteenth Century Committee’s annual business meeting at SABR 52 in Minneapolis.
This summer, 228 SABR members submitted their votes for the 2024 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The ballot consisted of twelve candidates, three from each of four tracks: Players from the Major Leagues (1876–1900), Pioneers/Contributors, Managers/Executives/Umpires, and Black Baseball.
Previous Overlooked Legends were Pete Browning in 2009, Deacon White (2010), Harry Stovey (2011), Bill Dahlen (2012), Ross Barnes (2013), Doc Adams (2014), Tony Mullane (2015), Jack Glasscock (2016), Bob Caruthers (2017), William Hoy (2018), Jim Creighton (2019), Bud Fowler (2020), Charlie Bennett (2021), Moses Fleetwood Walker (2022), and Bobby Mathews (2023). White became the first Overlooked Legend to be voted into the Hall of Fame in 2013. Fowler was also inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2022.
Von der Ahe was the owner and the “Boss President” of the St. Louis Browns from 1881 to 1899. A German immigrant, Von der Ahe started out in the grocery and saloon business before becoming a baseball entrepreneur. In 1881, he purchased the St. Louis Brown Stockings, who would join the American Association in 1882.
Von der Ahe was a powerful force in the AA and has been credited with bringing baseball back to St. Louis after the Brown Stockings dropped out of the NL in 1877. He fully supported the AA’s three main differences from the NL, a cheaper admission fee that was affordable for the “common man” (25 cents), Sunday games, and the sale of alcohol at the ballpark. During his tenure, he introduced a beer garden, a stadium club, a water ride, and a racetrack among his many gimmicks to attract people to the park. Eventually, many of these ideas failed and contributed to his financial downfall, but he planted the seed for future innovators like Bill Veeck.
Before the AA merged with the NL in 1891, the Browns would win four straight pennants (1885–1888) and the “World Series” in 1885 and 1886. He also helped keep the AA afloat financially during their battles with the Players’ League and the NL in 1890 and 1891. Von der Ahe was a finalist on the Hall of Fame’s Pre-Integration Era ballot in 2016. He was an Overlooked Legend finalist from 2016–2024, finishing second in 2023.
The 2024 election was a particularly close one. Third-place finisher Grant “Home Run” Johnson claimed the most first-place votes (36), followed by Von der Ahe (35), Tommy Bond (33), George Van Haltren (25), and Octavius Catto (24). Here are the final election results, with their overall point totals:
- Chris Von der Ahe: 397 points
- Tommy Bond: 385
- Grant “Home Run Johnson: 375
- George Stovey: 355
- Al Reach: 353
- Octavius Catto: 301
- Paul Hines: 287
- George Van Haltren: 255
- Lip Pike: 224
- Dickey Pearce: 206
- Ben Shibe: 148
- Jim Mutrie: 117
For more information on the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project, visit SABR.org/overlooked-19th-century-baseball-legends or contact Project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams.
Originally published: August 8, 2024. Last Updated: July 29, 2024.