Charles Comiskey (August 15, 1859 - October 26, 1931) was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. A native of Chicago, Illinois, he batted and threw right handed. Comiskey Park, built under his guidance, was named in his honour. Comiskey entered the American Association in 1882 as a member of the St. Louis Brown Stockings. The next two seasons he managed the team on an irregular basis and took over full-time managerial duties in 1885, leading the Stockings to four consecutive Association championships; they were the first major league team to earn four straight pennants. He also played and managed for the Chicago Pirates in the Players League (1890), St. Louis Cardinals in the American Association (1891) and Cincinnati Reds in the National League (1892-94).
Comiskey retired from playing and managing in 1894. He compiled a .264 batting average with 29 home runs, 883 RBI and 419 stolen bases. As a manager, he posted a 839-542 record.
Comiskey reentered baseball in 1900 as the first owner of the Chicago White Sox and a partial founder of the American League. As owner of the White Sox from 1900 until his death in 1931, Comiskey oversaw the building of Comiskey Park in 1910 and five American League championships. However, Comiskey's unpopularity with his players is seen as a factor in the Black Sox scandal, in which players conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. Comiskey was notoriously frugal, even forcing his players to pay to launder their own uniforms. Interstingly, it was the inevitably filthy uniforms that actually led to the team being known as the "Black Sox"; the nickname existed well before the gambling scandal.
Comiskey is credited with being the first first baseman to position himself in the field behind first base and off the baseline, a practice which has since become common. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Comiskey died in Eagle River, Wisconsin at age of 72.
