Ferdinand Augustus "Gus" Abell (July 8, 1833 – November 8, 1913) was an American businessman and one of the original founders of the team that became the Brooklyn Dodgers. A

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

casino owner, he put up most of the money to form the team in 1883 and also was the leading financing behind the building of Washington Park, the home of the ballclub. He stuck primarily to the business side of the franchise, letting his partners Charlie Byrne, George Taylor and Joseph Doyle supervise the team's actual on-field activities. He was the leading force behind the Dodgers merger with the original

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

in 1898. He remained part of the Dodgers ownership group until he was bought out by

Charles Ebbets Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. (October 29, 1859 – April 18, 1925) was an American sports executive who served as co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1897 to 1902 before becoming majority owner of the team, doing so until his death in 1925. He ...

in 1907. He died of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied ...

in 1913.

References

External links

Ferdinand Abell
- Baseball Biography
Dodgers.com ownership history''The birth of the Dodgers''''Dodgers History''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abell, Ferdinand 1833 births 1913 deaths People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Baseball executives Brooklyn Dodgers executives Businesspeople from Rhode Island 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople American casino industry businesspeople