Edward Grant "Ed" Barrow was born on 10 May, 1868, on a hemp plantation near Springfield, Illinois. His father was a Civil War veteran, and not long after Ed's birth, the family moved west to take advantage of free land the United States government was offering to veterans. The family settled near Des Moines, Iowa, where Barrow grew up. In 1887, Barrow took a job as a mailing clerk for the Des Moines News, and went to the Leader the next year, where he was promoted to copy manager. Barrow was already a fan of baseball at this time, and had played regularly as a child, but had hurt his arm in an accident and was no longer able to play well. He instead turned to what would be a life-long calling when he organized and managed the boys working under him at the newspaper into a baseball team. Barrow moved briefly to Chicago with a brother in 1888 before relocating in 1889 to Pittsburgh, where he worked in the hotel business until 1893. While in Pittsburgh, Barrow met Harry Stevens, and in 1894 the two helped to launch the International League while also backing a Wheeling, West Virginia team, which Barrow managed. Despite the success of the Wheeling team, who were leading the league in mid-season, the International League disbanded before the end of 1894 season. Following this, Barrow moved to New Jersey, where he helped to organize the Atlantic League in 1895 and acquired the Paterson, New Jersey team in the league. Barrow wasted no time in making his first great baseball acquisition, when he returned to the Pittsburgh area to sign Honus Wagner to a contract with the New Jersey team. In 1896, Barrow was elected president of the Atlantic League, and in 1898 he married Alice Calhoun of Keokuk, Iowa. In 1900, Barrow bought a quarter interest in a Toronto club, and managed them for the next three years. Barrow became manager of the Detroit Tigers in late 1903, and retained that position throughout the 1904 season. In 1905 he moved to Indianapolis to manage a team in the American Association, and in 1906 went back to Toronto to again manage a team there. He was successful in Toronto, leading his team to a championship in 1907. Following the conclusion of the 1907 season, Barrow temporarily left baseball to open a hotel in Toronto, where he stayed until 1910. His first wife died in 1910, and when a position was offered to Barrow in December of 1910 to move east and run the Eastern League, Barrow gladly left the hotel business behind. Barrow remained in the role of president of the International League (as he had changed the name immediately upon taking over in 1910) through mid-1917, while living in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Barrow married his second wife, Fannie Winifred Taylor of Toronto, in 1912. The couple had one daughter, Barrow's only child. Barrow became manager of the Boston Red Sox at the end of the 1917 season, where one of his first actions was to sign Babe Ruth to a contract. Barrow was successful with the Red Sox and led them to a World Series victory in 1918, while also masterminding the plan to convert Ruth from a pitcher to an outfielder. After financial troubles caused the sale of most of the Red Sox talent to the New York Yankees, Barrow followed, accepting a position as business manager of the Yankees in 1920. Barrow would remain in this role until 1938, after which he moved up to take over the position of president of the Yankees – a position vacated by the death of co-owner Jacob Ruppert. Barrow retained this position until 1945, at which time he retired from baseball at the age of 77. Barrow's legacy while in the front office for the New York Yankees is unparalleled. In 24 years he built teams capable of maintaining a dynasty, orchestrating 14 pennants and 10 World Series victories. Barrow was responsible for signing a number of prominent players to the Yankees, among them Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. Barrow was also responsible for developing the first farm system for the Yankees, as well as being the first to put numbers on the backs of players' uniforms, and was the first to allow fans to keep foul balls hit into the stands. Throughout his lengthy career with the Yankees, Barrow remained ardently opposed to "night baseball," and refused to allow lights to be installed in Yankee Stadium, although he had been among the first to introduce the idea of night baseball by lighting up a 4th of July game in 1896 while president of the Atlantic League. Barrow remained convinced that lights would ruin baseball as an enterprise, and feared fans would not come out to attend games in the evening. He attended his first night game in 1947, and was amazed to see Yankee Stadium was sold out for the game. From then on, he reversed his campaign against evening games, citing that it was clearly what the fans wanted to see. Barrow, known to many as simply the "Yankee Empire Builder," died in 1953 at his home in Port Chester, New York, following battles with several illnesses. He was named to the Hall of Fame later that year by the newly formed Committee on Veterans.