Call to the pen
Fansided

Hall of Fame-worthy team executives

By Bill Felber

Oct 2, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics vice president of operations Billy Beane talks on the field before the 2019 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at RingCentral Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics vice president of operations Billy Beane talks on the field before the 2019 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at RingCentral Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports /
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The 1892 Boston Beaneaters, one of Arthur Soden’s numerous championship creations.  Pictured are Hall of Famers King Kelly, middle row third from left, Kid Nichols, top row middle, John Clarkson, middle row, far right, and Hugh Duffy, front row, far right. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
The 1892 Boston Beaneaters, one of Arthur Soden’s numerous championship creations.  Pictured are Hall of Famers King Kelly, middle row third from left, Kid Nichols, top row middle, John Clarkson, middle row, far right, and Hugh Duffy, front row, far right. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

Arthur Soden

Nearly a century after his 1925 passing, only the most experienced of baseball analysts are even aware that somebody named Arthur Soden existed. He not only existed, but for the better part of three centuries in the game’s formative years he was possibly the dominant force.

Soden was the lead voice of a three-person team that owned and operated the Boston Beaneaters of the 19th Century National League. In those days owners did not hire someone to operate the front office for them; in Boston Soden assumed that task for the trio.

Purchasing the Beaneaters in 1877, Soden and his co-owners controlled the Boston National League franchise for three decades. For much of that period the Beaneaters were the game’s dominant force, winning National League pennants in 1877, 1878, 1883, 1891 1892, 1893, 1897 and 1898. That’s eight pennants in a 22-year stretch, three more than any other team.

He was also a driving force in shaping the way the game was played. Soden was the lead planner in creation of the ‘Reserve Clause’ that ruled baseball contracts for the better part of a century. That may not be a politically popular posture today, but if nothing else it demonstrates the dominant role Soden played in shaping the game.

His 1887 purchase of King Kelly from the Cubs legitimized and made popular the strategy of purchasing talent from other teams.

Teams run by Soden enjoyed 20 winning seasons, and featured six future Hall of Famers who spent the majority of their careers working for Soden. Those six were George Wright, Tommy McCarthy, Hugh Duffy, Kid Nichols and John Clarkson along with manager Frank Selee.

In the entire history of Hall of Fame voting, Arthur Soden has never gotten a single vote.

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