Former Atlanta Braves owner Bill Bartholomay has died at the age of 91.
Bartholomay's daughter told Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution her father died in New York on Wednesday night.
Bartholomay purchased the MLB franchise for $6.2 million in 1962 and relocated it from Milwaukee to Atlanta four years later after an extended legal battle in Wisconsin. He sold the organization to Ted Turner for $11 million in 1976 but remained on the board of directors until 2003, per Tucker.
The Chicago-area native made his wealth as an insurance executive in Illinois, but baseball was his passion.
"Baseball has been a great part of my life," Bartholomay told Tuckerin 2015. "I was an honorary Cubs bat boy when I was nine years old. I'm as enthusiastic now as I was then."
He was also a stakeholder in the Chicago White Sox for around a year before buying the Braves, according to Tucker.
Thursday was originally scheduled as MLB's Opening Day before it was indefinitely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Bartholomay was always a fan of the first day of the regular season, annually calling it "New Year's Day for me."
He was inducted in the Braves Hall of Fame as a member of the 2002 class alongside pitcher Johnny Sain.
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