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Profile: Born in West Columbia, West Virginia, Ernest Sargent Barnard later resided in Delaware, Ohio. After he graduated from Otterbein College in 1895, Barnard became football and baseball coach there until 1898. Moving to Columbus, Ohio, he became secretary of the local Builders Exchange, and coached football at Ohio Medical University. In 1900 he became sports editor for The Columbus Dispatch.

Ernest Barnard first got involved in professional baseball in 1903 when he was hired by the Cleveland Bronchos of the newly formed Americana League, serving as traveling secretary from 1903-1908, then becoming Vice President and General Manager 1908-116, 1918-22 as the team changed names and became the Naps then the Indians in 1915. Bancroft would later become President of the Cleveland Indians in 1922. During this time Barnard would often act as a mediator between American League President Ban Johnson and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. When AL owners in 1927 forced Johnson, the league’s founder to resign, Barnard was chosen to replace him after agreeing to sell the Indians.

After three year at the helm, Barnard was re-elected to a thee year term on December 9, 1930. However, he would died suddenly just before the 1931 season as he awaited an examination at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on March 27, 1931. Ironically Ban Johnson the man he replaced as American League President died the following day.