Former Los Alamos Ranch School student Bill Louis Veeck, born Feb. 9, 1914 in Chicago, IL, died Jan. 2, 1986 in Chicago, IL. Courtesy photo 

By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos

Baseball enthusiasts will no doubt recognize the name Bill Veeck, one-time owner of the Chicago White Sox. However, he wore a different uniform as a student at the Los Alamos Ranch School in 1931-1932.

Bill was born in 1914 in Chicago, Ill. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, but with his father once president of the Chicago Cubs, he eventually chose to take a career path in baseball. After observing with the Cubs, he took on a partner, and the two of them bought a minor league team in 1941—the Milwaukee Brewers. However, with the beginning of World War II, he put baseball aside and joined the Marines. He served in the South Pacific until he suffered a leg wound and returned home.

Bill eventually lost his leg to amputation, but it didn’t stop him from returning to baseball in 1946. He became the owner of the Cleveland Indians and signed Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League. In 1948, the Indians won the World Series.

His next move in baseball was the purchase of the St. Louis Browns, but he found himself up against the St. Louis Cardinals, owned by Anheuser-Busch. In a good move, his Browns went to Baltimore and became the Orioles.

In a last move in 1959, Bill Veeck joined the Chicago White Sox, watching that team win the pennant. Despite his many moves through baseball, Bill Veeck was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame five years after his death.