Henry John Peters (September 16, 1924 – January 4, 2015) was an American professional baseball executive who held senior management positions for the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball between and . During his dozen years as general manager of the Orioles (1976–87), Baltimore won two American League pennants (in and ) and the 1983 World Series championship. Peters was named The Sporting News Executive of the Year after both pennant-winning seasons. In addition, as president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (1972–75), Peters was the chief executive of minor league baseball and helped it survive one of the worst crises in its history. The native of St. Louis, Missouri, spent more than 40 years in organized baseball. Early life and education Peters graduated from Cleveland High School. After high school, he served for three years in the United States Army during World War II in the European Theater of Operations. Baseball career Early career Following his military service, Peters joined the St. Louis Browns after answering a newspaper advertisement, and eventually worked his way into their scouting department. When the Browns left St. Louis for Baltimore after the season, becoming the Baltimore Orioles, Peters stayed in the Midwest. He spent 1954 as general manager of the Burlington Bees of the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, then joined the front office of the Kansas City Athletics, newly transplanted from Philadelphia, in 1955. Kansas City Athletics By 1960, Peters was in charge of the Athletics' scouting and minor league system. In the autumn of that year, Charlie Finley bought the team, and Peters became farm system director of the Cincinnati Reds. But after one season in Cincinnati, Peters returned to the Athletics and Finley, where he would work for the tempestuous owner for four full seasons and hold the title of general manager during the 1965 campaign. Kansas City finished last in 1965, but it possessed at the big-league level (Bert Campaneris, Dick Green and Catfish Hunter) and in its farm system (Sal Bando, Rollie Fingers, Blue Moon Odom, Gene Tenace, Rick Monday, and others) a core of players that—after the franchise moved to Oakland in 1968—would help the A's win three consecutive world championships from 1972 to 1974. President of minor league baseball After leaving Finley and the Athletics, Peters joined the Indians as director of player personnel and assistant general manager working