Will Harridge Marquee Hall of Fame 1972

Will Harridge went from arranging team travel as a railroad clerk to serving as Ban Johnson's secretary and then president of the American League. Born in October 1881 and dead in April 1971, he was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1972, the year after his death.

He became league president in 1931 and served until 1959, which spanned the Depression, the war, the first All-Star Game in 1933, night baseball and the first franchise moves in half a century. He was a quiet administrator in a job his predecessor had made loud.

The one thing he is remembered for doing sharply was voiding the contract of Eddie Gaedel, the three-foot-seven man Bill Veeck sent up to bat for St. Louis in 1951, and ruling that stunts of that kind would not be permitted again. The league championship trophy carries his name.