Charles Stoneham "Chub" Feeney, the grandson of Charles Stoneham, the
owner of the National League New York Giants, was born on August 31,
1921 in Orange, New Jersey. Young Chub served as bat boy for the
beloved "Gi'nts" of Coogan's Bluff before being shipped off to
Dartmouth for his higher education. Feeney served in the Navy during
World War II, and after he returned to civilian life in 1946, his uncle
Horace Stoneham, now in control of the
team, gave him a relatively unimportant job in the front office.
While working part-time for the family franchise, Chub Feeney
matriculated at Fordham Law School in the cross-river borough The
Bronx, home of the Gi'nts hated inter-league rivals, the New York
Yankees. In 1950, Horace Stoneham promoted his nephew to Vice
President, which made him the club's de facto general manager. With
Chub as G.M., the Gi'nts won the National League pennant in 1951
(losing to the hated Yankees) and won the World's Championship in 1954.
Horace Stoneham and Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley shocked New
York City's National League fans when they announced they were
relocating their teams to the West Coast, the Giants to San Francisco
and the Dodgers to Los Angeles. Although reluctant to move West, Chub
immediately fell in love with Baghdad by the Bay after the team moved
for the 1958 season. As G.M., his San Francisco Giants won the NL
Pennant in 1962, once again losing to the hated Yankees in the World
Series.
Although Horace Stoneham eventually won a reputation as an erratic
owner, threatening to move the Giants to Toronto at one point in the
early 1970s, Chub Feeney was a highly respected baseball executive. In
fact, such was his reputation, Feeney might have been named Major
League Baseball Commissioner in 1969 had not some American Leaguers
owners objected. A compromise candidate, M.L.B. counsel
Bowie Kuhn, was chosen instead. The following
year, Nation League owners unanimously elected Chub president of the
senior circuit, a position he filled for 17 years.
A traditionalist, Feeney resisted the incorporation of the Designated
Hitter into the NL, even though it provided a major boost to American
League attendance, making the junior circuit the more popular league
for the first time since Babe Ruth revolutionized hitting with his
powerful uppercut. Chub regarded his defeat of the DH as his greatest
achievement in office. While Chub was president, the more
racially-diverse National League continued its dominance of the
American League in the All-Star Game, losing just twice during Feeney's
tenure.
Chub took the job as president of the San Diego Padres after retiring
as NL President. However, he lasted only 15 months on the job, retiring
again after an embarrassing incident in which he made an obscene
gesture to hecklers on Fan Appreciation Night. He returned to San
Francisco, where he died on January 10, 1994 at the age of 72.
