and 1946, the Cardinals won six World Series titles and nine National League pennants. Breadon was noted for a very conservative nature with his finances, highly demanding nature of his teams' success on the field, and bold moves otherwise. When he became minority owner, the Cardinals were $150,000 in debt. In 1925, he moved Branch Rickey from the dugout to the front office and promoted second baseman Rogers Hornsby to player-manager. Breadon also convinced cross-town American League rival St. Louis Browns owner Phil Ball to allow the Cardinals to move into Sportsman's Park. This allowed him to sell the dilapidated Robison Field property for a total of $275,000 to the city and a trolley company, clear their debts, and, with Rickey's oversight, establish an official, contractually-linked minor league farm system. This strategy developed into the current minor league system and the Cardinals used it to circumvent the practice of bidding against the more affluent Major League teams such as the New York Yankees and New York Giants for players from minor league teams, which at that time were unaffiliated. Although Minor League Baseball has existed as long as baseball has been organized, it was the first player development system of its kind in any professional sport. Between 1920 and 1947, the Cardinals compiled a record of 2,470-1,830 for a winning percentage of .574. When he sold the Cardinals to Fred Saigh and Robert Hannegan in 1947, the price was $3 million, at the time the largest transaction in baseball history. Fred Saigh (1947–1953) At the end of the 1947 baseball season, Saigh got wind that longtime Cardinals owner Sam Breadon wanted to sell. Breadon faced two problems. He was ill with prostate cancer, and he had been unable to find land on which to build a planned new ballpark. The Cardinals had rented Sportsman's Park from the city's other major league team, the American League Browns, since 1920. Although they had long since surpassed the Browns as the city's most popular team, Breadon wanted to build a park of his own. He had set aside $5 million to build a park, and was facing the end of a five-year deadline to build it before having to pay taxes on that money. Saigh persuaded Breadon to sell the Cardinals to him, with the assurance that he wouldn't have to pay taxes on his $5 million fund. To further put him at