On June 5, 1949, Commissioner Happy Chandler lifts the five year ban on major league players who had jumped to the Mexican League. One of the main reasons was the result of the players’ plan to sue for reinstatement on the grounds of an antitrust violation, a courtroom challenge the owners do not want to…
1949 – A New York Giants fan charges Leo Durocher with assault after the Giants lose, 15 – 2, to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends Durocher, who is absolved on May 3rd. Chandler criticizes teams for lax security that allows fans on the field.
1948 – Commissioner Happy Chandler orders free agency for ten Detroit minor leaguers for the club’s cover-up of their contracts. One of the players who will make the major leagues is Bill Serena, with a six-year career.
Connie Mack and Happy Chandler at Spring Training in West Palm Beach, Florida – 1948.
Philadelphia manager Ben Chapman, who admits he had been ‘kinda loud’ in leading his team in verbally abusing Jackie Robinson with racial slurs during yesterday’s game, sends word to the Brooklyn clubhouse that he would like to make amends by posing with the Dodger first baseman for the newspaper photographers. The orchestrated gesture, which Robinson agrees to, admitting later that is one of the hardest things he ever had to make himself do, is prompted by the bad press created by the Phillies manager’s intolerance and the wrath of Commissioner Chandler.
Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler announces the creation of a pension plan for American and National League players
1945 – Happy Chandler, who had continued to serve in the U.S. Senate after becoming commissioner, resigns his political office. He will move the commissioner’s quarters to Cincinnati.
On August 15, 1945, Commissioner Happy Chandler negotiates a contract to have Gillette become the sponsor of the World Series, replacing Ford Motot Company. The razor company pays a record $150,000 for its affiliation with the Fall Classic, surpassing the $100,000 price tag previously paid by Ford, which had been the World Series sponsor since…
1945 – Happy Chandler becomes the second baseball commissioner. The major league owners unanimously elect the former governor of Kentucky on the first ballot and reward him with a seven-year contract. Chandler succeeds Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the game’s first commissioner, who died in 1944.
On July 14, 1907, future Hall of Famer Happy Chandler is born in Corydon, Kentucky. In 1945, Chandler will succeed Judge Landis as the game’s commissioner and will oversee the breaking of the color barrier.
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