008_The_man_responsible_was_a_former_New_York_City_police_commis

William Baker, former NYC police commissioner, bought the team in 1913, renaming the ballpark Baker Bowl. He was cheap and made bad decisions, like trading their ace pitcher for $55,000. This led to a decline in the team's performance for 31 years, finishing last 16 times and losing over 100 games in 12 seasons. The stadium deteriorated, with low attendance requiring sheep for maintenance. After Baker, the team faced financial struggles, leading to intervention by the National League in 1942. Subsequent owner, William Cox, was banned for life for betting on games. The man responsible was a former New York City police commissioner named William Baker who bought the team in 1913 and renamed the ballpark after himself, Baker Bowl. Baker was cheap and worse, he was bad at his job. His signature move came in 1917 when, worried Alexander would get drafted into World War I, he traded away his ace pitcher, one of the best in the league, to the Chicago Cubs for $55,000 and two players who combined to appear in just 46 games for the Phillies. It's still considered one of the worst trades in franchise history. Aro, the bottom fell out completely. Starting in 1918, the Phillies had exactly one winning caliber finish over the next 31 seasons. They finished dead last 16 times. They lost 100 or more games in 12 different seasons. In 1930, they actually put together one of the best hitting teams in the modern era, a .315 team batting average, the third best since 1900, and still lost 102 games because their pitching staff had a combined ERA over 6.70. Baker Bowl, once the pride of the league, had rotted into a laughing stock. Sports writers called it the toilet bowl. Attendance dropped so low, the team once resorted to hiring three sheep to keep the outfield grass trimmed because they couldn't afford groundskeepers. After Baker died, his successor, Jerry Nugent, kept the lights on by selling off any player worth real money, including a hitter who'd batted over .300 for straight years, sold off to the highest bidding minor league team just for cash. So things got so bad that in 1942, the National League itself had to step in. Commissioner Ford Frick forced the team's ownership out entirely and took over the franchise directly because it was flat broke. The man who briefly bought it afterward, a lumber dealer named William Cox, lasted less than a year before he was banned from baseball for life for betting on his own team's games.