Born in the fall of 1851 in Hille, Kingdom of Prussia, von der Ahe immigrated alone to New York City around 1870, but quickly moved to St. Louis, where he worked as a clerk in a grocery store.

Other than player/manager/owner Albert Spalding, Von der Ahe was the first baseball owner with a significant public persona, the predecessor of Bill Veeck, Charlie Finley and George Steinbrenner in this regard.

Although eccentric, von der Ahe made a number of innovations, including operating a farm club called the St. Louis Whites.

[4] In 1887, after a poor showing in the World Series, the ill-tempered von der Ahe threatened to withhold his players' share of the earnings.

Unfortunately for the Browns, they, along with three other AA refugees, were forced to place their players in a pool and give the established NL clubs first choice to sign them.

Without Comiskey's eye for talent, the Browns crumbled to only their second losing record as a fully professional team, finishing 11th.

In an effort to recoup his losses, in 1892 he moved to a larger ballpark, which he surrounded with an amusement park, complete with beer garden, a horse track in the outfield, a "shoot-the-shoots" water flume ride, and an artificial lake (used for ice skating in winter).

In 1898, part of the ballpark burned down during an April game with Chicago; his second wife divorced him; and his bondsman kidnapped him for not paying his debts.