August Garry Herrmann : A Baseball Biography

This biography contains the life and times of August ""Garry"" Herrmann which is a true Horatio Alger story. Born in 1895 and rising up from humble beginnings in Cincinnati, he entered the murky waters of 19th century machine politics in the city serving as a trusted lieutenant to George B. Cox, one of the most powerful political bosses in the country. Herrmann was a gifted man who introduced modern management principles to municipal government and oversaw the committee that built Cincinnati's modern water works system. Hermann also loved baseball and in 1902 he along with George B. Cox and Cincinnati mayor Juluis Fleischmann bought the Cincinnati Reds from John T. Brush. It was Herrmann in early 1903 who chaired the peace conference between the leagues that ushered in the modern game and two years later implemented the World Series as a lasting annual event. With the leagues united, Herrmann was selected to head up the National Commission to a three-person ruling body that governed major league baseball. Although financially successful, Herrmann acquired a reputation along the way, as a lavish entertainer and when he died in 1931, he left an estate valued at ten dollars. A reporter said in his obituary, published in a Cincinnati newspaper, that his political partners, George B. Cox and Rud Hynicka made millions of dollars, but August ""Garry"" Herrmann had more fun.