Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (December 26, 1837 - November 6, 1922) was an American business and sports executive and politician who served as the first president of Major League Baseball's National League, and later served as a governor of Connecticut and a U.S. Senator. Bulkeley was born in East Haddam, Connecticut. His father founded the Aetna Insurance Company and a young Morgan worked at the Aetna as a teenager sweeping floors for a dollar a day. Morgan later served on its board of directors and became its president. Bulkeley volunteered as a private for the Union Army in the Civil War. From 1880-1888 he was mayor of Hartford, and in 1888 he became governor of Connecticut, a post he held until 1892 despite the fact that he was not re-elected in 1890. He became known as the "Crow-Bar Governor", because when the 1890 election did not result in a clear winner, Bulkeley exploited a forgotten clause in the state constitution that permitted him to stay in office. Bulkeley later served one term in the U.S. Senate from 1905 to 1911. He was also one of the seven members of the Mills Commission formed by Albert Spalding, the group that gave credence to the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball.
Bulkeley died in Hartford at age 84. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, 15 years after his death.
