Joseph Iglehart

Who was Joseph Iglehart?

Joseph Alexander Wilson Iglehart was an American financier who also served as an executive for the Columbia Broadcasting System and two Major League Baseball franchises.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 15, 1891, he graduated from The Boys' Latin School of Maryland in 1910 and Cornell University in 1914. He served in the American military during World War I, becoming the youngest major in the United States Army at the time of his appointment in 1917.

After the war, he was employed as an investment banker by the Wall Street stockbrokerage firm W.E. Hutton & Co., where he eventually became a partner. He was later associated with CBS as an investor, chairman of the finance committee and, for 47 years starting in 1932, a member of the board of directors.

He was one of the investors in a Clarence Miles-led group that successfully purchased the St. Louis Browns from Bill Veeck on September 29, 1953, moving the franchise to Baltimore and renaming it the Orioles for the 1954 season. He was appointed the team's chairman of the board after Miles' resignation in early November, 1955. Iglehart eventually became the largest individual shareholder, with a 32% stake in the ballclub, which emerged as a legitimate pennant contender by 1960 on the strength of its scouting, player development and farm system.