Phillip Lesher Auten (February 1840 – March 7, 1919) was an American business executive in the lumber and mining industries, best remembered as controlling owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

team of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL) from through with William Kerr.

Baseball ownership

Auten and William Kerr were stockholders of the

Pittsburgh Burghers The Pittsburgh Burghers were a baseball team in the Players' League, a short-lived Major League that existed only for the 1890 season. The team included a number of players who had jumped from the National League's Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now the ...

of the Players' League in that league's only season of 1890. In early 1893, the two men gained a controlling interest in Pittsburgh's

club, the Pirates, which had absorbed and merged ownership with the defunct Players' League club, when they and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Al Buckenberger bought out the stock of William Chase Temple. Auten and Kerr sold their majority share of the Pirates to

Barney Dreyfuss Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss (February 23, 1865 – February 5, 1932) was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Dr ...

prior to the 1901 season.

Personal life

Auten was born in

Milton, Pennsylvania Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the West Branch Susquehanna River, north of Harrisburg, located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. It is approximately 10 miles upriver from the mouth ...

, in February 1840. He moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1858, where he began working in the lumber industry. He served in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, as a member of the

Chicago Board of Trade Independent Battery Light Artillery The Chicago Board of Trade Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The Chicago Board of Trade Battery was mustered into service at Chicago, Illinois, on August 1, 1862. It was sponsore ...

. After the war, he returned to Chicago and resumed his career in lumber, later co-founding a company, Billings & Auten. In 1879, Auten became co-owner of the Ford River Lumber Company, continuing in that role until 1896. During his time as owner of Pittsburgh-based teams, Auten continued to live in Chicago. He became involved in mining in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, and was one of the incorporators of the Isabell Mining Company, founded in 1898 in

Douglas County, Washington Douglas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 42,938. The county seat is Waterville, while its largest settlement is East Wenatchee. The county was created out of Lincoln Count ...

. He was also a member of the

Chicago Stock Exchange NYSE Chicago, formerly known as the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX), is a stock exchange in Chicago, Illinois, US. The exchange is a national securities exchange and self-regulatory organization, which operates under the oversight of the U.S. S ...

. In 1902, he bought land in Pasadena, California, to construct what would become his retirement home. Auten died in Pasadena in March 1919; he was survived by his wife, one daughter, and one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auten, Phil 1840 births 1919 deaths People from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Businesspeople from Chicago People of Illinois in the American Civil War Union Army soldiers Major League Baseball owners Pittsburgh Pirates owners 19th-century American businesspeople