Fred Saigh

Fred Saigh, a former owner of the St. Louis Cardinals who was forced out of baseball in 1953 when he was sentenced to federal prison for income-tax evasion but kept the team in St. Louis by selling it to the locally based Anheuser-Busch brewery. A small, dapper man with an eye for big business deals, having owned prime real estate in downtown St. Louis during the 1940's, Saigh bridged two longtime Cardinal ownerships. Sam Breadon, who sold the club to Saigh in November 1947, had been the team president for 27 years. Anheuser-Busch, whose owner, August A. Busch Jr., bought the franchise from Saigh in February 1953, would run it for 43 years. When Saigh departed the ownership ranks three months before heading to the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. -- the Mark Harris baseball novel ''The Southpaw'' under his arm -- Saigh acted to preserve National League baseball for St. Louis. Although he said the $3.75 million bid he received from Anheuser-Busch was lower than offers from interests in Milwaukee and Houston, he accepted it to insure continuing local control. Frederick Michael Saigh Jr. (pronounced sigh), a native of Springfield, Ill., grew up in Kewanee, Ill., the son of a grocery-chain owner. He attended Bradley University and Northwestern, became a lawyer, moved to St. Louis and eventually bought office buildings. He purchased the Cardinals from Breadon for an estimated $4 million, taking control with Robert E. Hannegan, who resigned as the United States postmaster general to join baseball. Two years later, Saigh bought out Hannegan. Saigh maneuvered, meanwhile, in baseball's ownership ranks, and was a leader in the club owners' revolt that ousted Commissioner Happy Chandler in 1951. In April 1952, Saigh was indicted on federal charges of evading $49,260 in income taxes between 1946 and 1949. He pleaded no contest in January 1953 to two counts involving more than $19,000 in tax underpayments, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and then sold the team in February under pressure from Commissioner Ford Frick. Saigh was released from prison in November 1953 after serving six months and soon began buying shares in Anheuser-Busch. He was said to have become the largest single owner of the brewery's stock outside the Busch family, at one point with holdings worth about $60 million. He is survived by a brother, William, and a sister, Rose Saigh, both of St. Louis.