Ernest Barnard

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Ernest Sargent Barnard (July 17, 1874 - March 27, 1931) was the President of Major League Baseball's American League from 1927 until his death. Born in West Columbia, West Virginia, he later resided in Delaware, Ohio. He graduated from Otterbein College in 1895, and became football and baseball coach there until 1898. Moving to Columbus, Ohio, he became secretary of the local Builders Exchange, and coached football at Ohio Medical University. In 1900 he became sports editor for The Columbus Dispatch.

Hired by the Cleveland Indians in 1903, he served that club as traveling secretary (1903-08), vice president and general manager (1908-16, 1918-22), and president (1922-27), often acting as a mediator between AL president Ban Johnson and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. When AL owners in 1927 removed Johnson, the league's founder, Barnard was chosen to replace him after agreeing to sell the Indians. He was re-elected to a 3-year term on December 9, 1930, but died suddenly prior to an examination at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota a few months afterward; Johnson died just hours later.