# Research question: Early 1900s Baseball Owner who fathered a child with an actress **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [July 9, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549 "2026-07-09T21:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/1 "2026-07-09T21:18:22Z")
This was something I ran across accidentally a few months ago, and I happened to think about it again, but have forgotten the details. What I seem to recall is a baseball owner fathered a child with an actress (1900-1920 time frame). The actress (not a notable name) legally was able to establish paternity. It seemed as though the attorney handling either his estate or the paternity suit died unexpectedly (car accident)? I just thought (at the time, anyway) that it was one of those stories with interesting twists, and I have no idea what led me there, who the principals were, and what team it was, and now, as Andy Rooney might have said, “It’s bothering me.” Anyone wanna try? (I thought it was too trivial for FQ). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/2 "2026-07-09T21:54:46Z")
NY Yankees owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Broadway chorus girl Helen Weyant. When Ruppert died in 1939, he left a third of his estate to the mother of his secret daughter. Lawsuits aplenty ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/3 "2026-07-09T22:00:59Z")
Maybe this had to do with them, but does any real proof of the relationship exist? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/4 "2026-07-09T22:01:38Z")
To be clear, you mean a baseball team owner? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/5 "2026-07-09T22:04:26Z")
The inheritance is real. The daughter may be the invention of Kim Van Alkemade for the novel, _Bachelor Girl_. [https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/21/archives/onethird-of-the-ruppert-fortune-is-bequeathed-to-an-exactress-helen.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/21/archives/onethird-of-the-ruppert-fortune-is-bequeathed-to-an-exactress-helen.html) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/6 "2026-07-09T22:07:55Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Maybe this had to do with them, but does any real proof of the relationship exist? From what I can find, Ruppert did indeed leave 1/3 of his estate to Helen Weyant, a chorus girl who was 34 years his junior. There does not appear to be any solid evidence that they were lovers, nor that they had a child (and it appears that Weyant’s father was a friend of Ruppert’s) – Ruppert never married, and was childless; the other two-thirds of his estate went to two of his nieces. > **[An Old Mystery: Why Did Jacob Ruppert Leave a Fortune to an Unknown Woman?](https://www.pinstripealley.com/2012/5/29/2153215/an-old-mystery-why-did-jacob-ruppert-leave-millions-to-an-unknown)** > > Your best source for quality New York Yankees news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/7 "2026-07-09T22:14:30Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > From what I can find, Ruppert did indeed leave 1/3 of his estate to Helen Weyant, a chorus girl who was 34 years his junior. Perhaps she was Ruppert’s secret daughter and not his paramour. Or he just liked her singing voice. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/8 "2026-07-10T01:43:41Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > [https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/21/archives/onethird-of-the-ruppert-fortune-is-bequeathed-to-an-exactress-helen.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/21/archives/onethird-of-the-ruppert-fortune-is-bequeathed-to-an-exactress-helen.html) I read this URL and thought, “what the heck is an exactress?” After a couple seconds, I realized the NYT needed to do something about embedded hyphens in legacy headlines… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/9 "2026-07-10T16:40:55Z")
Thanks, but I don’t think this was the person. I probably would have remembered if it was the Yankees. Seems the team was a Midwest team, and the child didn’t find out about her parentage until her mother had died, and she had found a note. Probably a dead end with no more clues than I have, and not remembering what circumstances landed me on that press account. (It’s good to be the pro sports owner!) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/research-question-early-1900s-baseball-owner-who-fathered-a-child-with-an-actress/1031549/10 "2026-07-10T17:15:28Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Seems the team was a Midwest team That narrows it to a relative handful of teams, at least, assuming it was a major-league team: - Chicago Cubs - Chicago White Sox - St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Browns (moved to Baltimore, became the Orioles, in 1954) - Detroit Tigers - Cleveland Indians - Cincinnati Reds