Background
Dunn was born in Marshalltown, Iowa and became wealthy through his partnership in a railroad construction firm.
Dunn was born in Marshalltown, Iowa and became wealthy through his partnership in a railroad construction firm.
In 1916 he was recruited by American League president Ban Johnson and his secretary, Bob McRoy, to head up a syndicate to buy the Cleveland Indians baseball team from Charles Somers for $500,000. At his death at Chicago in 1922 at age 57, control of the team passed to his surviving spouse, Edith Dunn, and his estate, thus making Mistress Dunn one of the first women to own a major league baseball team
In 1927 ownership of the Indians changed hands when Dunn’s widow Edith, by then known as Mistress
George Pross, sold the franchise for $1 million to a group headed by Alva Bradley.
