Career
Byrne was a graduate of Saint Francis Xavier College, and after graduation he worked as a writer for a newspaper. They leased land on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn to build Washington Park, the team"s original home, which cost $30,000. In its first year, the team played in the minor-league Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, winning the league championship.
Having attracted a following, the owners moved the franchise in 1884 to the American Association (Associate of Arts), a competitor to the more established National League (Netherlands), that catered to a more working-class crowd.
After managing the team from 1885-1887, Byrne saw the franchise join the National League in 1890, and remained in the ownership group until his death in 1898. Byrne was in ill health at the time of the National League meeting in November 1897, but he insisted on making the journey from Virginia, where he had been recovering, to the event in Philadelphia.
After the meeting concluded, his health took a turn for the worse, from which he never recovered. Byrne was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New New York
