Kenesaw Mountain Landis

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Landis, Kenesaw Mountain

(kĕn`əsô'), 1866–1944, American jurist and commissioner of baseball (1921–44), b. Millville, Butler co., Ohio, grad. Union College of Law (now Northwestern Univ. law school), 1891. He practiced law in Chicago after 1891, the year he was admitted to the bar, and later served (1905–22) as a U.S. district judge in N Illinois. In 1907 he imposed a $29,240,000 fine on the Standard Oil Company of Indiana in a rebate case. Though it was reversed by a higher court, the decision won him wide acclaim. In 1917 he sentenced William D. HaywoodHaywood, William Dudley,
1869–1928, American labor leader, known as Big Bill Haywood, b. Salt Lake City, Utah. He began work as a miner at 15 years of age. In 1896 he joined the newly organized Western Federation of Miners, and in 1900 became a member of the executive
..... Click the link for more information. , American labor leader, to a 20-year prison term, and although the decision was later reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Landis sentenced Victor Berger and six other Socialists for sedition (impeding the war effort). After organized baseball was confronted (1920) with the "Black Sox" scandal, a committee of baseball executives appointed (1921) Landis—who had presided at the case in which the newly organized Federal League brought suit against the National and American leagues for violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act—to the new post of baseball commissioner. Landis immediately barred from organized baseball the eight Chicago White Sox players charged with bribery in the 1919 world series. The strict discipline he imposed on players and managements did much to restore public faith in professional baseball.

Bibliography

See biography by J. G. T. Spink (1947).

Landis, Kenesaw Mountain

(1866–1944) judge, baseball commissioner; born in Millville, Ohio. A lawyer appointed federal district judge in Chicago in 1905, Landis gained attention for his dramatic $30-million ruling against Standard Oil (later reversed) and for patriotic cases connected with the Espionage Act of 1917. As baseball's autocratic first commissioner (1920–44), he banned for life eight players who had previously been acquitted in the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919. He earned his reputation for integrity and for reestablishing the reputation and integrity of baseball, but his insistence on excluding African-Americans from organized baseball prevented their participation in the national pastime until after his death. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

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References in periodicals archive ?

National and American League presidents John Heydler and Ban Johnson, National Commission chair August Herrmann, and baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis all levied their disciplinary power in ways that reflected their desires to both protect the game's growing popularity and to maximize revenue.

Tales from the Deadball Era: Ty Cobb, Home Run Baker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the Wildest Times in Baseball History

The Major League Baseball commissioner with the monumental name Kenesaw Mountain Landis told President Franklin Roosevelt in early 1942 that he would defer to the White House on whether the nation's ballyards should be closed up for the war's duration.

Extra innings

In 1944, baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis died at age 78.

Today in History -- Nov. 25

A long and contentious trial before Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who wouldn't permit the defense to show movies of Pan cars actually being built in the factory, resulted in acquittal for everyone but Pandolfo, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $4,000 fine.

The pan tank tread tractor

As has been well documented, shortly after the United States entered World War II, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis penned a letter to President Franklin D.

Jeff Obermeyer. Baseball and the Bottom Line in World War II: Gunning for Profits on the Home Front. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2013. 240 pp. Paper, $39-95

In his excellent biography of Bill Veeck, author Paul Dickson tackles the controversy over whether National League president Ford Frick and/or Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis blocked Veeck's attempt to buy the Phillies in 1942 and field a team of players from the Negro Leagues, as Veeck alleges in his 1962 book, Veeck--as in Wreck.

The veracity of Veeck

There have been nine men who have served as MLB commissioner since the post was created in 1920 with Kenesaw Mountain Landis, whose 25 years (1920-1944) in that position are the longest.

Commissioner status

Kenesaw Mountain Landis, commissioner of baseball from 1920 to 1944, said that integrating baseball too soon might "start another Civil War.

Jackie Robinson: breaking the color barrier [pp.20-21] Lexile score: 1010L

A court acquitted them of conspiring to defraud the public, but baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned them for life.

In the cheat of the moment.. SPORT'S INFAMOUS RULE-BREAKERS

Jamison served on a commission that elected Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first commissioner of baseball in 1920.

James Vincent Jamison Jr.: Blue Ridge League President, 1916-18, 1920-30

The commissioner at the time, the formidable and joyless Kenesaw Mountain Landis, saw the new system as a profound threat to the struggling minor leagues and tried every means to stop Rickey.