Harry Clay Pulliam

Harry Clay Pulliam (February 9, 1869 – July 29, 1909) was an American baseball executive who served as the sixth President of the National League. He served from 1903 until his death in 1909. where he attended public schools. Pulliam received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. The game was later replayed (due to the Giants and Cubs finishing the season with identical records atop the National League), with the Cubs winning to capture the pennant. They went on to win the World Series that year, and Merkle has been blamed for the loss ever since. The pressure of the 1908 decision resulted in Pulliam taking several months off, and his discussion of retirement.

Death Pulliam shot himself in the head in his apartment at the New York Athletic Club at 9:30 pm on July 29, 1909. He lingered for several hours before dying. He was depressed over his ill health.

Pulliam was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. Baseball was halted in both the American and National Leagues for the first time in baseball history on the day he was buried. A special baseball card was created in his honor and distributed at the World Series. He was the first person honored by baseball with all players wearing armbands for 30 days.

Legacy Pulliam's level of admiration and importance to baseball can best be described by those in attendance at his funeral. The honorary pallbearers included Ban Johnson, president of the American League; John Heydler, secretary and treasurer of the National League (subsequently succeeding Pulliam as President); the secretary of the National Baseball Commission, and the presidents of the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Pulliam's axiom "Take Nothing For Granted In Baseball" is still used this day. In fact, this quote of Pulliam's was printed in a New York Times article in 1922, thirteen years after his death.

Upon Pulliam's death, organized baseball passed an amendment that each year on the first day of the World Series, a special honorary baseball card with his likeness be distributed to everyone involved with the baseball organization and that flowers be delivered to his grave on that same day. This tribute continued until the late 1920s. In its amendment, the baseball commission wrote, "Organized baseball never had a more zealous and devoted sponsor."

Politics In 1897, while President of the Louisville Colonels, Pulliam was nominated as a Democratic Kentucky legislator for his ward in Louisville. He was nominated while on the road for the Colonels and did not campaign for the position. He was elected, and served the sixth and seventh wards of Louisville. Later, he received the title of "Red Bird Statesman" for the introduction of a bill to protect the species.

In popular culture Harry Pulliam is a central character in the historical novel Called Out: A novel of base ball and America in 1908 by Floyd Sullivan (Amika Press, 2017), which features a fictionalized account of the key events of his life and death during the years 1908 and 1909.