Henry Van Noye Lucas

Henry Van Noye Lucas was a baseball executive in the late 19th century.

With the support of other St. Louis investors, in November 1883, he filed papers to incorporate the St. Louis Athletic Association giving birth to the Union Association St. Louis Maroons.[1] In 1884, the 26-year-old Henry became president of the Union Association. After the Union Association collapsed, the National League was persuaded to bring the St. Louis Union entry into the established league, to try to provide some competition for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. Unfortunately for the Maroons, the Browns were at the peak of their game, winning pennants four straight years (1885–1888). Meanwhile, the Maroons, facing much better competition in the National League, finished well off the National League pace in 1885 and 1886.

Fred Dunlap hit for the cycle for the Maroons on May 24, 1886. Following the 1886 season, the team was sold to the league, which in turn sold it to John T. Brush. He moved the team to Indianapolis, where they were renamed the Hoosiers.[2]

Biography

Henry Van Noye Lucas was born on September 5, 1857 in St. Louis, Missouri; he died in 1910. He was the twelfth and youngest child of James H. Lucas and Marie Emilie (Desruisseaux) Lucas. When Henry's father died in 1873, he inherited $2 million of his nine-million-dollar estate.[3][4] Henry lived in an estate just outside of the city of St. Louis (present-day town of Normandy) and was educated at St. Louis University. An all-around sports enthusiast, Henry enjoyed baseball both as a participant and as a spectator.[1]

Henry's his French-born paternal grandfather, John Baptiste Charles Lucas was born into an old Norman family in Normandy, France, in 1758. After meeting Benjamin Franklin, he was so inspired—and so impatient with class injustices in France—that he sailed to America. Armed with a letter of introduction from Franklin, Jean Baptiste was made a federal land grant judge by Thomas Jefferson, then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He resigned and moved to St. Louis, reportedly in part because he and his wife, Anne, missed French society.[5][6] He had been attorney to the King of France before he emigrated to the United States.

In 1805, he was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson to serve as land commissioner of the Louisiana Purchase Territories. It was he who named the area Normandy, because the terrain reminded him of his home country. His son Charles had an opportunity to purchase 1150 acres in this area, which he willed to his sister Anne.

Personal life

Henry married Louise ("Lizzie") Espenschied in 1880. They had one child Henry V. Lucas Jr. ("little Henry") on February 1, 1881.[1][7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Henry V. Lucas | Society for American Baseball Research". sabr.org. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  2. ↑ Cash, John David. Before They Were Cardinals: Major League Baseball in Nineteenth-Century St. Louis. University of Missouri Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8262-1401-0, p. 107.
  3. ↑ Thomas, Joan M. "Henry V. Lucas". Society for American Baseball Research.
  4. ↑ Seymour, Harold, Baseball: The Early Years, Oxford, 1960, p.160
  5. ↑ "The Lucas Family: A Recent Echo of a Grand Past". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  6. ↑ "John B. C. Lucas's Obituary on St. Louis Post-Dispatch". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  7. ↑ Espenschied, Lloyd (January 5, 1962). "Louis Espenschied and His Family". Missouri Historical Society Bulletin (St. Louis, Missouri). XVIII (2): 87–103.
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