Monument to Cris von der Ahe - German-American Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Chris von der Ahe immigrated from Hille, Germany to New York around 1870 and then moved to St. Louis. He first worked as a store clerk at a grocery store which he later bought out and expanded into a saloon. Noticing increased sales at his saloon after baseball games, von der Ahe bought the rights to the St, Louis Browns, a club that had folded due to bankruptcy and formed them into a new club in 1882. Von der Ahe’s club still exists today as the St. Louis Cardinals. The Browns initially did well, capturing four straight league championships from 1885 through 1888, but afterwards, the team fell on hard times and von der Ahe was forced to sell the club by the National league in 1898. He filed for bankruptcy in 1899, and died a pariah in 1913.

Throughout his life, von der Ahe was known as a flamboyant character as he gave himself titles like “der Boss President.” Von der Ahe is attributed with being the first to put on almost all of the promotions associated with baseball. Among his innovations were night games, a shoot-the-chute, and the first “stadium club” at a ball park. Von der Ahe is also attributed with being the inventor of the concept of a World Series and tradition holds that he was the first to serve hotdogs at the ballpark although some historians dispute the latter.

The statue pictured was originally located in front of Sportsman’s park, where von der Ahe’s club played. Shortly after it was unveiled, a writer referred to the 25 foot statue as “von der Ahe discovers Illinois.” Later, it was moved atop the grave marker he built before his death where it has remained to this day.

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Date Logged Log   03/20/2013 Sneakin Deacon visited it