On Nov. 12, 1920, Ohio native Kenesaw Mountain Landis became the first commissioner of Major League Baseball. A federal court judge, he was selected by owners to restore the game's integrity after the betting scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox.

Landis was born in Millville in 1866. He dropped out of school and was a bicycle racer before he began covering court cases for the Logansport (Ind.) Journal. That inspired him to become a lawyer, and he enrolled in classes at the YMCA Law School in Cincinnati. He transferred to Union Law School in Chicago, from which he received a degree in 1891. As baseball commissioner, he banned eight White Sox players for life and vowed to do likewise to any ballplayer involved in future gambling on the national pastime. Landis died in 1944, age 78.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call 768-8361.