GUSSIE BUSCH Biography - Craftmen, artisans and people from other Occupations

 
 

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GUSSIE BUSCH

Name: Gussie Busch                                                                         
Born: 28 March 1899 St. Louis, Missouri, USA                                               
Died: 29 September 1989 St. Louis, Missouri, USA                                           
                                                                                           
August Anheuser Busch, Jr. (March 28, 1899 - September 29, 1989) also known as "Gussie"   
Busch was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies               
into the largest brewery in the world as company chairman from 1946-75, and               
became a prominent sportsman as owner of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise in             
Major League Baseball from 1953 until his death.                                           
                                                                                           
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Busch was the grandson of brewery founder Adolphus           
Busch and grandfather of current CEO August Busch IV. He succeeded his older               
brother Adolphus Busch III as President and CEO. He originated the use of the             
now famous Clydesdale team as a company logo in the 1930s. Such Clydesdales were           
presented to his father pulling a Budweiser beer wagon to commemorate the end of           
Prohibition. Anheuser-Busch now ranks as the world's largest brewer.                       
                                                                                           
As chairman, president or CEO of the Cardinals from the time the club was                 
purchased by the                                                                           
brewery in 1953 until his death, Busch oversaw a team which won six National               
League championships (1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987) and three World Series           
(1964, 1967 and 1982) under his stewardship. In 1984, the Cardinals' board of             
directors retired the uniform number 85 for him, in honor of his age at the time.         
                                                                                           
Although the Cardinals were by far the dominant baseball team in St. Louis, in             
1953 their owner, Fred Saigh, was in financial and tax difficulty, and the club           
did not even own its own ballpark (it was a tenant of the "stepchild" St. Louis           
Browns in Sportsman's Park). Amid rumors of a move to Milwaukee or Houston,               
Anheuser-Busch bought the Redbirds, and after the Browns relocated to Baltimore           
for 1954, it also purchased the ballpark, renaming it Busch Stadium. The current           
stadium bearing that name was opened in 2006 replacing the prior Busch Stadium             
which opened in 1966.