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Robert Ward Loves Bread and Baseball


BROOKLYN, NY. February 20, 1912 - Robert Ward, famous for his Ward Bread Company and their Tip-Top Cakes comes from a long line of bakers, and while the 65-year-old will continue to operate his Brooklyn store, his newest business involves no flour, butter, or yeast.

“I am in baseball because I like the game, am interested in it, and always have been interested in it. To my mind it is a wholesome, clean game that appeals to most people and should appeal to most people."

It's no different when an owner is a steel magnate, a hotel owner, the owner of a shipbuilding company, or a bakery owner. Fans always want to know one question. "What do they know about baseball?"

“I never knew there was any black art about baseball. Judging from some of the men I have met in the profession and the success they have made, I would not say that intelligence of the first order was necessary to a rather complete mastery of the game."

"For myself, I was always interested in baseball more than most things. When I was my father’s foreman and working nights, I always set apart a sum of money to buy a season’s ticket to the old Pittsburgh grounds and attended practically every game of the season. That showed how much interest I used to have in baseball, for money at that time was a distinct object, and I had none too much at my command."

"Furthermore, I might say I have never ceased to have an interest in the game. I am a member of golf clubs, but the only athletic pursuit in which I have ever had any concern has been baseball. Busy as I have been, I have always appropriated time when I could to go to a
ball game."

"As for my knowledge of baseball, that mysterious thing they talk so much about, I guess I can learn what I don’t know that I need to know. There was a time I didn’t know anything about the bakery business, but I learned; I am not worrying about baseball.”

When asked about how Ward was roped in by Federal League President James Gilmore, he responded:

“I was at Toronto, visiting a friend, and it so happened that Gilmore was also in the city at the same time. A friend of my son’s knew Mr. Gilmore and introduced us. The next day Mr. Gilmore wished to see me. He outlined his proposition. I said to him, ‘Mr. Gilmore, if you will put all your cards on the table and things are as you represent them, I will go into this scheme with you.’ He did as I suggested. I investigated carefully and took the Brooklyn franchise."

"I don't expected to make any fortune in baseball. No business man who has been in business as long as I have is carried off his feet by the visionary schemes of any promoter. Mr. Gilmore had a concrete proposition and I took it. I took it because I was interested in baseball, had always been interested in baseball. I like the sport above all others. It appeared to me that the time had come when major league baseball might logically expand. The organized majors would admit of no change. Any expansion plainly must come from without the ranks. Baseball interest had grown, numerous cities outside the big league ranks had grown. Everything had grown but baseball. Major league baseball was stationary and would always remain stationary if the organized magnates had their will. I know of no business or of no public movement of the magnitude of baseball that can safely be curtailed or hidebound by the will of sixteen men."

“The major league magnates are asleep at the twitch, in my opinion. When I built my bakeries in Greater New York, the dealers already in the field had their arms folded, waiting for something to happen. It happened. The major league magnates are in the same boat. They are waiting for something to happen. They won't be disappointed. This is a free world and no one owns the people’s game. We are in the game to stay, to give the people the best baseball we can buy for money. And we are improving and establishing our large interests in the Federal League as fast as any one could reasonably expect, considering the difficulties with which we have had to contend.”