Former Braves Owner Bill Bartholomay Dies at Age 91

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 Tucker in 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.