Walter Briggs Sr.


Walter Owen Briggs Sr. was an American entrepreneur and professional sports owner. He was part-owner of the Detroit Tigers in Major League Baseball from to, and then sole owner from 1935 to his death in 1952. Briggs also helped fund the Detroit Zoo in 1928, and personally paid for many of its first exhibits. He was also a patron of Eastern Michigan University and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Biography

Briggs was born on February 27, 1877 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Rodney D. Briggs and Ada Warner. He followed the Detroit Tigers from the time he was young. In his early youth he worked at the Michigan Central Railroad and later opened Briggs Manufacturing Company in 1908, which specialized in the manufacturing of automobile bodies for the auto industry and later diversified into plumbing fixtures.
After the death of Tigers' part-owner Bill Yawkey in 1919, surviving partner Frank Navin arranged for Briggs and industrialist John Kelsey to buy a 25 percent stake in the club. In 1927, Briggs bought Kelsey's stake to become a full partner with Navin, though he stayed in the background while Navin was alive. After Navin died in 1935, Briggs became the sole owner of the franchise.
, Alpheus W. Chittenden and Charles D. Kotting, architects
As owner, among Briggs' first actions was completing major renovation and expansion plans to Navin Field. He double-decked the grandstand and converted the park into a bowl. It reopened in 1938 as Briggs Stadium, with a seating capacity of 58,000. The stadium was later renamed Tiger Stadium.
Briggs was noted for fielding a well-paid team that won two American League pennants and a World Series championship in 1945 under his ownership. He had a reputation for being prejudiced against African Americans, in part because he refused to sign black players and would not allow black fans to sit in the boxes at Briggs Stadium. The Tigers did not field their first non-white player until 1958, six years after Briggs' death, making them the second-to-last team in the majors to integrate.
Briggs died at age 74 in Miami Beach, Florida on January 17, 1952.

Legacy

His son, Walter Briggs Jr., briefly inherited the Tigers before being forced by the court to sell them in 1956.