Bill DeWitt III | |
---|---|
Born | Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | March 8, 1968
Education | Yale University (BA) Harvard University (MBA) |
Title | President of the St. Louis Cardinals |
Predecessor | Mark Lamping |
Successor | Incumbent |
Spouse | Ira Aldanmaz |
Children | Natalie and William IV |
Parent | William DeWitt Jr. |
William Orville DeWitt III (born March 8, 1968) is an American baseball executive. He has been the president of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball since 2008. He is the son of Cardinals' team owner William DeWitt Jr. and the grandson of Bill DeWitt, who owned the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds and was a protégé of late Cardinal general manager Branch Rickey. [1]
DeWitt grew up in Cincinnati but moved to St. Louis when his father's ownership group purchased the Cardinals in 1996. [1] He graduated from the Taft School (1986), earned an undergraduate degree from Yale (1990) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1995). [2] [3] Between his undergraduate and master's degrees, DeWitt served as an assistant to William K. Reilly, a former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. [3]
Before his appointment as Cardinals' president, DeWitt joined the Cardinals and became the head of merchandising in 1996. [4] He also gained experience in marketing and operational tasks. DeWitt helped develop Roger Dean Stadium, the Cardinals' spring training home in Jupiter, Florida, which opened in 1998. [4] [5] After becoming the team's senior vice president of business development, he led the design and construction of the Cardinals' ballpark, Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006. [3]
DeWitt's predecessor, Mark Lamping, left in March 2008 to become the NFL's New York Giants president of New Meadowlands Stadium Company. [6] DeWitt oversees the business operations of the Cardinals, including sales, marketing, finances, accounting, game-day productions, and other miscellaneous ventures. [1] He also runs the development of Ballpark Village, a 100,000-square-foot retail development district next to Busch Stadium. [3]
DeWitt appeared in a 2006 episode of the ESPN Classic series Cheap Seats , filmed on location in St. Louis. Hosts Randy Sklar and Jason Sklar are natives of St. Louis.
DeWitt is married to Ira Aldanmaz DeWitt; the couple have two children, daughter Natalie and son William Orville IV. In his spare time, DeWitt plays golf and ice hockey. [3] Mrs. DeWitt is from Canada and is of Armenian descent. Also a businesswoman, she is the owner of St. Louis-based Notifi Records, an urban contemporary record label whose artist roster has included Ginuwine, Johnny Gill, and Bos. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology and education from Saint Louis University in 1998. [7]
Busch Memorial Stadium was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 through 2005. Built as Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium, its official name was shortened to Busch Stadium in January 1982.
William Louis Veeck Jr., also known as "Sport Shirt Bill" and "Wild Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns, and the Chicago White Sox.
Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on the north side of the city.
The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Opened in 1998, the park seats 6,871 people. They share the facility with the Jupiter Hammerheads, also of the Florida State League.
William Orville DeWitt Jr. is an American businessman who is currently the managing partner and chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise which competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Cardinals have won two World Series — in 2006 and 2011 — during DeWitt's time as owner. In addition to the Cardinals, DeWitt has also owned or invested in the Cincinnati Stingers hockey club, Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers. Business interests outside baseball include Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., which owns Arby's franchises and invests in the U.S. Playing Card Company and the petroleum company Spectrum 7.
Roger Dean Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Abacoa community of the town of Jupiter, Florida. The stadium was built in 1998, holds 6,871 people, and features luxury sky-box seating, two levels of permanent seating, parking and concessions. The Roger Dean Stadium Complex is the only stadium in the country to host four minor league teams: the Jupiter Hammerheads and Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League, and the Florida Complex League Marlins and Florida Complex League Cardinals of the Rookie-level Florida Complex League.
Busch Stadium is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the home of Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. It has a seating capacity of 44,383, with 3,706 club seats and 61 luxury suites. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. A commercial area dubbed Ballpark Village was built adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.
William Orville DeWitt Sr. was an American professional baseball executive and club owner whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned more than 60 years. DeWitt held multiple ownership and upper management positions in the major leagues, including general manager and owner of both the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds, chairman of the board of the Chicago White Sox, and president of the Detroit Tigers.
August Anheuser "Gussie" Busch Jr. was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world by 1957; he acted as company chairman from 1946 to 1975.
The St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum is a team hall of fame located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, representing the history, players and personnel of the professional baseball franchise St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). It is housed within Ballpark Village, a mixed-use development and adjunct of Busch Stadium, the home stadium of the Cardinals. To date, 55 members have been enshrined within the Cardinals Hall of Fame.
Ballpark Village (BPV) is a dining and entertainment district in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, owned by the investment group that controls the St. Louis Cardinals, the city's professional baseball team. Located on the 200 and 300 blocks of Clark Street, it sits across the street from and is meant to complement Busch Stadium, the team's home field, on the site of the demolished Busch Memorial Stadium.
The 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 80th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 14, 2009, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the National League St. Louis Cardinals. The game was the first All-Star Game held in St. Louis since 1966. This was the seventh year in which the All-Star Game determined home field advantage in the World Series, with the American League winning all seven games up to and including 2009 under this format. After the game, the National League led the series, 40–38–2, but had not won since 1996. Fox televised the contest, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in the booth for the game broadcast, joined at the bottom of the 2nd inning by President Barack Obama. Pre-game coverage began at 5 PM US EDT on MLB Network, with ESPN joining in at 7 PM US EDT. Outside the USA, Rogers Sportsnet (Canada) and ESPN America (Europe) carried MLB's international feed with their own video feed and announcers.
The St. Louis Cardinals 1996 season was the team's 115th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 105th season in the National League. It was Tony La Russa's first season managing the club, after leaving the Oakland Athletics. During the first year of the William DeWitt, Jr. era, the Cardinals went 88–74 during the season and won their first-ever National League Central title by six games over the Houston Astros. They beat the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, but fell in 7 games to the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS after being up 3–1. DeWitt, along with Drew Bauer and Fred Hanser had bought the Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch during the 1995-96 offseason.
The St. Louis Cardinals' 2008 season was the 127th season for the franchise in St. Louis, Missouri and the 117th season in the National League. The Cardinals, coming off a 78–84 season that was their worst since 1999, improved by eight games, going 86–76 in 2008. However, this was only good for fourth place in the National League Central, 11.5 games behind the division champion Chicago Cubs.
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central Division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals have played their home games at Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. One of the nation's oldest and most successful professional baseball clubs, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships, the most of any NL team and second in MLB only to the New York Yankees. The team has won 19 National League pennants, third-most of any team behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. St. Louis has also won 15 division titles in the East and Central divisions.
The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). Brewing magnate Gussie Busch's 37-year-long ownership of the club ended with his death in 1989, and his brewery, Anheuser-Busch (AB) took over. In 1995, an investment group led by Drew Baur and William DeWitt, Jr., purchased the team and have owned the club since. Shortstop Ozzie Smith – nicknamed "The Wizard" – collected a staggering array of defensive records and awards while performing acrobatic spectacles such as somersaults and flips that mesmerized Cardinal and non-Cardinal fans alike. In 1998, Mark McGwire and the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa collocated national attention with their chase of Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. In addition, McGwire also set numerous team home run records. For the 1990s, the Cardinals captured one division title and finished above .500 five times for a .488 winning percentage
The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). After decades of early futility in the National League, St. Louis baseball encountered a renaissance with 11 World Series titles and 18 National League pennants since 1926. Sam Breadon's purchase of the majority stake in the club in 1920 spurred this revival; he then assumed the role as team president and assigned the young, enterprising Branch Rickey as his business manager, functioning as a prototype of today's general manager. In his tenure as owner until 1947, Breadon's Cardinals won nine NL pennants and six World Series titles. During this era in Cardinals franchise history, they also totaled 2,898 wins and 2,171 losses in the regular season for a .572 winning percentage.
The St. Louis Cardinals 2014 season was the 133rd for the franchise in St. Louis, Missouri, the 123rd season in the National League (NL), and the ninth at Busch Stadium III. The Cardinals entered 2014 as the defending NL champions.