About: Nicholas Young (executive)

Nicholas Ephraim Young (September 12, 1840 – October 31, 1916) was an American executive, manager and umpire in professional baseball who served as president of the National League from 1885 to 1902. Born in Amsterdam, New York at Johnson Hall, the estate of Sir William Johnson, he served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later was employed in the U.S. Treasury Department. Young, an excellent cricket player as a young man, became a right fielder and official with a Washington, D.C. amateur baseball club. In 1871, he organized the meeting which resulted in the formation of the sport's first professional league, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players; he was named league secretary, managed the Washington team from 1871 to 1873, and also served as a league umpire.