Since the beginning of Major League Baseball, women have rarely held high executive positions in team franchises. On occasion, however, women have ended as majority owners of Major League franchises. Most often, they end up inheriting their team from their families. As a result, there have been fourteen women who have held the controlling stakes of a franchise in the league's history.

The first female owner in MLB history was Helene Hathaway Britton, the daughter of Frank Robison and the niece of Stanley Robison. She inherited the St. Louis Cardinals from her uncle upon his death and, despite pressure to sell from fellow male owners, chose to retain ownership and control of the team and took an active part in running it until financial issues forced her to sell. Grace Comiskey inherited the team from her husband J. Louis Comiskey and became team President, the first woman in the American League to hold a high executive role. Her daughter Dorothy Comiskey Rigney inherited the team from her.

Two women have independently owned majority stakes of an MLB franchise without inheriting it. Joan Whitney Payson, previously a minority owner of the New York Giants, was the first owner of the New York Mets and played a big role in bringing the National League back to New York City after the Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moved to the West Coast. She was the first woman to own a team without having inherited it. Marge Schott was the first woman to purchase a Major League franchise when she bought the Cincinnati Reds in 1984.

Additionally, a number of women have inherited the team upon the death of a family member but delegated the business of running to someone else. For instance, Edith Dunn, the wife of Cleveland Indians owner Jim Dunn, was the first woman in the American League and second overall to own a franchise but did not take part in its day-to-day operations, instead letting general manager Ernest Barnard run the team until she sold it upon remarrying in 1927. Unusually, baseball executive Mae Nugent inherited the majority shares of the Philadelphia Phillies from owners William and Laura Baker upon their deaths but her husband Gerald Nugent ran the day-to-day operations.

Principal owners The following is a list of women who have held the majority stake in a Major League Baseball franchise:

+ Name Portrait Major League team(s) Ownership tenure Notes St. Louis Cardinals1911–1918Cleveland Indians1922–1927Philadelphia Phillies1930–1934Philadelphia Phillies1934–1942Pittsburgh Pirates1932–1949Chicago White Sox1939–1956Chicago White Sox1956–1958New York Mets1962–1975Boston Red Sox1976–1992 Los Angeles Dodgers1979–1998Cincinnati Reds1984–1999San Diego Padres1984–1990Los Angeles Angels1998–1999Milwaukee Brewers1998–2004

See also Effa Manley, owner of the Newark Eagles of the Negro leagues and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame Women in baseball List of Major League Baseball principal owners

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Further reading