Throughout his career, first as a federal judge, later as commissioner of baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis left a major footprint in not just baseball, but in other sports as
well.

Landis’ first name of Kenesaw Mountain comes from one of the Civil War battles for Atlanta (Kennesaw Mountain) where his father fought for the Union Army.  Landis grew up in Indiana, and was an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati.  Then it was off to law school at Union Law School, now Northwestern University.  (We don’t know if he supported the Bearcats and/or the Wildcats.)  Landis finished law school in 1891.  After practicing law for several years, Landis was appointed by President Teddy Roosevelt as a Federal Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.  Between 1905 and 1922 Landis presided over a myriad of newsworthy cases, including anti-trust cases and trials of members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Landis’ first major involvement with sports law involved heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.  Johnson was charged with violating the Mann white slavery act.  In the court of Judge Landis, Johnson was convicted, sentenced to a year and a day in prison, and fined $1,000.

1919 saw the infamous World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox- the “Black Sox” scandal.  Baseball, with its reputation severely tarnished by the Black Sox gambling scandal, looked outside its walls for help.  One of the people called upon was Judge Landis, who was asked to act as Chairman on a National Commission of baseball.  Landis turned the post down, insisting that his only involvement would be as the sole Commissioner of Baseball.  Landis demanded total authority to act in the best interest of baseball.  The baseball owners readily agreed to Landis’ demands.  Compare Landis as an arbitrator to Peter Seitz, the famous baseball arbitrator of the mid 1970’s (Seitz was famous for ending the reserve clause).

Next up: Landis deals with the "Black Sox".