Sydney Straus Frank (October 18, 1872 – after 1920) was an American business executive, and president and owner of the

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 ...

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 at the inception of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in 1901.

Career

Frank served as team president of the

of the

in 1901, their inaugural season. John Mahon was elected to succeed Frank as chairman at the annual stockholders' meeting in February 1902. Outside of baseball, Frank managed the brokerage firm of Arthur Lipper & Company, and his business obligations were cited as the reason that he did not continue as president of the Orioles. When Mahon sold his controlling interest in the Orioles to

John T. Brush John Tomlinson Brush (June 15, 1845 – November 26, 1912) was an American sports executive who is primarily remembered as the principal owner of the New York Giants franchise in Major League Baseball from late in the 1902 season until his death ...

and

Andrew Freedman Andrew Freedman (September 1, 1860 – December 4, 1915) was an American businessman who is primarily remembered as the owner of the New York Giants professional baseball team of the National League from 1895 to 1902. He also briefly owned the ...

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 ...

Ban Johnson Byron Bancroft Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931) was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League (AL). Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of the mino ...

, president of the

, joined with Frank and other minority owners of the Orioles to seize control of the team. The Orioles franchise relocated to New York City for the 1903 season, becoming the New York Highlanders, and since 1913 have been the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. Following Frank's sale of his interest in the Orioles, there would not be another Jewish owner in the American League for nearly a half-century, until former player

Hank Greenberg Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...

took an ownership position in the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

in 1949.

Personal life

Frank was born in Baltimore in 1872, and had one sibling, a sister, Alice, who died in August 1916. Frank married Florence Hortense Holzman in November 1906. As of November 1910, Frank was living on Madison Avenue in Baltimore, per a newspaper report of his house being robbed. As of the 1920 Census, he was living on Fifth Avenue in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, apparently alone. Later information about his personal life is unknown.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Sydney 1872 births Year of death missing Businesspeople from Baltimore American stockbrokers New York Yankees owners