The following art and text by Michael Hogue of The Dallas Morning News is reproduced here in The Pecan Park Eagle by written permission from Michael Hogue. Today’s portrait features a look at Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the Commissioner of Baseball who stood in the way of racial integration in organized baseball for the greater part of his near quarter century in office.
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is our “Offering # 12″ in this series and a continuation of this fine Texas artist’s work, Portraits of the Negro Leagues. Today’s subject, Judge Landis, was Baseball’s first solo authority Commissioner and the man who got the job to clean up baseball after the World Series gambling and player fix behavior in the infamous 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Thank you again, Michael, for allowing The Pecan Park Eagle to further share the beauty and joy of your work with those readers who care about the Negro Leagues and their place in baseball history.
For more on Michael Hogue’s work, check out his website:
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Baseball's First Commissioner, 1920-1944, Baseball Hall of Fame, 1944. Landis ruled baseball with an iron fist. When he died, he was immediately elected to the Hall of Fame by a collection of baseball people from that era that still behaved in deference to Landis as though they had no other choice but to instantly accord him the game's highest honor.
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis by Michael Hogue of The Dallas Morning News
“(Kenesaw Mountain) Landis helped keep the big leagues segregated. He ordered major leaguers to stop competing against black clubs, reportedly because he was embarrassed by losses. ‘They just aren’t organized,’ Landis said of the Negro Leagues. Homestead Grays first baseman Buck Leonard replied, ‘We were organized, we just weren’t recognized.’ “
Houston, Baseball, & Other Musings.
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