» November 21, 1893: Ban Johnson is named president, secretary, and treasurer of the recently reorganized Western League. Under Johnson's leadership the Western League will prosper.
» February 29, 1896: Western League president Ban Johnson asserts that "the Western League has passed the stage where it should be considered a minor league…it is a first-class organization, and should have the consideration that such an organization warrants." Four years later Johnson will act upon this belief, taking the first steps toward moving the WL—renamed the American League in 1900—to ML status.
» November 18, 1899: Ban Johnson, president of the new American League, contemplates exchanging players of equal ability with the National League and EL with a view to giving the public new attractions.
» March 16, 1900: At an American League meeting in Chicago Ban Johnson announces that an AL team will be placed in the Windy City, ensuring the stability of the league. Other franchises are in Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo. In an agreement with Chicago National League officials, the AL club will be situated on the south side of the city and will be permitted to use the nickname "White Stockings," formerly used by the NL team. However, the White Stockings will not be able to use the word "Chicago" in their official name.
» September 18, 1900: The AL season ends with Chicago four games in front. Says the Reach Guide: "Effective pitching and sharp fielding were the rule as only 17 batters hit over .300. There was less disorder in the field than the other league, owing to the vigilance of Ban Johnson in protecting umpires."
» October 13, 1900: Ban Johnson promises to put the following provisions in all player contracts in the AL: no suspensions for more than 10 days; clubs to pay doctor bills for injuries occurring during a game; if a club abandons the league, its players become free agents after 10 days; no farming or selling without the player’s written consent; no reserve clause for more than three years or for less salary than the current year; and binding arbitration for disputes.
» October 31, 1900: Ban Johnson writes a letter to NL president Nick Young seeking peace, based on parity as a ML for the AL.
» November 19, 1900: At an American League meeting at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago, Ban Johnson says the AL chose not to renew the National Agreement with the National League, but sees no need for friction between the two.
» December 10, 1900: At the National League meetings at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, rumors fly. Ban Johnson says the American League has signed a lease on a park in Detroit. The Players Protective Association says its members will not sign with the NL.
» December 11, 1900: A rumor that the PPA leaders have gone to Philadelphia to meet with Ban Johnson causes National League owners to "have something closely resembling a fit," says the New York Times. Players later admit the meeting took place.
» December 12, 1900: The National League considers going back to 12 teams to counter American League moves into some cities. They invite Ban Johnson to come to the NL meeting, but change their mind about compromise and leave the AL head outside the meeting room. The NL awards the AL's Minnesota and Kansas City territories to the new Western League, even before the AL officially abandons them. The NL agrees to hear the players in a public meeting, but rejects all their demands.
» January 28, 1901: The American League formally organizes: the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Somersets are admitted to join the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Stockings. Three of the original clubs—Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo—are dropped. League power aggregates in Ban Johnson as trustee for all ballpark leases and majority stockholdings, and with authority to buy out refractory franchises. Player limit is 14 per team, and the schedule will be 140 games. AL contracts give the Players Protective Association what it asked for, with 5-year limits on the rights to player services.
» March 5, 1901: The American League approves a 14-player limit to go into effect 14 days after the start of the season. As noted by Cliff Blau, the limit is changed at the last minute, the deadline postponed for two weeks, and the limit increased to 15 by Ban Johnson, after six teams request the change.
» April 28, 1901: Veteran SS Hugh Jennings, teammate and roommate of John McGraw in Baltimore’s great days, will play for Connie Mack’s Athletics after getting his law degree at Cornell. McGraw persuades him to play for Baltimore instead, touching off a battle royal with Mack and Ban Johnson. The result is ill feelings that never heal. Jennings winds up playing for the Phillies.
» May 8, 1901:
In a letter to AL team owners, Ban Johnson says that the rule requiring clubs to cut their players to 14 will not be enforced until May 20th.
» July 30, 1901: Ban Johnson says the AL will place a team in St. Louis in 1902. The Milwaukee franchise is seen as the most likely to be transferred. New York will likely have a franchise while Cleveland and Baltimore will likely lose theirs.
» August 7, 1901: Ban Johnson suspends Baltimore 1B Burt Hart for striking umpire John Haskell yesterday, stating "This is the first time a player in the American League has struck an umpire, and it is an offense that cannot be overlooked." The 31-year-old Hart will never play again.
» November 5, 1901: Sportsman's Park in St. Louis is leased for five years by Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey for an American League team; two weeks later the Milwaukee franchise is officially transferred.
» July 8, 1902: John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles and officially signs to manage the Giants at $11,000 a year, although he'd already secretly signed a contract several days earlier brought to Baltimore by Giants secretary Fred M. Knowles. McGraw says, "I wish to state that I shall not tamper with any of the Baltimore club's players." But conspiring with National League owners Brush and Andrew Freedman, McGraw swings the sale of the Orioles their way, enabling them to release Orioles Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, and Jack Cronin for signing by the Giants. Joe Kelley and Cy Seymour go to Brush's Cincinnati Reds.
» August 25, 1902: Ban Johnson announces the AL's intention to have a New York team in 1903, with Clark Griffith as manager. The Baltimore franchise will be moved.
» January 10, 1903:
Despite attempts by John Brush and Andrew Freedman to use their political influence to prevent the AL from finding suitable grounds in New York, Ban Johnson, aided by baseball writer Joe Vila, finds backers. He also finds a ballpark site at 165th Street and Broadway. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery pay $18,000 for the Baltimore franchise and will build a wooden grandstand seating 15,000 on the highest point of Manhattan. The team, logically, will be called the Highlanders.
» April 22, 1903:
In the American League's formal Opening at Philadelphia, the Athletics top Boston, 6–1, before 13,578. Rube Waddell bests Bill Dinneen. AL President Ban Johnson presents the 1902 championship pennant to the A's.
» August 17, 1903: Ban Johnson orders betting suppressed at all AL parks, a noble but futile gesture.
» December 18, 1903: At the league meeting, Ban Johnson is reelected American League president and given a raise to $10,000. Also, the AL votes to allow coaches at 3B and 1B at all times: till now, only one coach was permitted except if there were two or more base runners. The AL also institutes the "foul strike" rule, used by the National League since 1901: a foul will be counted as a strike unless there are already two strikes.
» July 27, 1904: John McGraw and John T. Brush say they have no intention of playing a post-season series with the American League champions. "The Giants will not play a post season series with the American League champions. Ban Johnson has not been on the level with me personally, and the American League management has been crooked more than once." says McGraw. "When we clinch the National League pennant, we'll be champions of the only real major league," Ban Johnson fires back, "No thoughtful patron of baseball can weigh seriously the wild vaporings of this discredited player who was canned from the American League." As the New York Highlanders battle for the AL pennant, local pressure mounts, but Brush, still angry over the inter-league peace treaty, and McGraw, who despises Ban Johnson, are adamant.
» December 12, 1906: The American League gives Ban Johnson a raise to $15,000 for the remaining four years of his contract.
» May 17, 1909:
Red Sox catcher Bill Carrigan and Detroit infielder George Moriarty earn a suspension by AL Prexy Ban Johnson for their fight in a game in Detroit.
» August 24, 1909:
At Detroit, A's catcher Paddy Livingston throws out Ty Cobb trying to steal 3rd during an intentional walk to Sam Crawford. Cobb intentional spikes 3B Frank Baker on his bare hand during the play, prompting howls of protest from the Athletics. The Tigers win, 7-6, and A's manager Connie Mack will complain to Ban Johnson about Cobb's dirty play. Cobb gets a warning from the AL president.
» October 9, 1910:
Cobb, meanwhile, rather than risk his average, sits out the last two games, the Tigers beating the White Sox in the finale, 2–1. Ban Johnson investigates and clears everyone concerned, enabling Ty Cobb to win the 3rd of nine straight batting crowns. The embarrassed Chalmers Auto Company awards cars to both Ty and Nap. In 1981 The Sporting News uncovers an error—crediting a 2-for-3 game twice to Cobb—that, if corrected, would give the championship to Nap Lajoie. But the commissioner's committee votes unanimously to leave history unchanged.
» October 13, 1910:
In Ban Johnson's hearing on the October 9th doubleheader in which Nap Lajoie had eight hits, Browns 3B Red Corriden staunchly defends playing back: "I wasn't going to get killed playing in on Lajoie."
» June 27, 1911: In the 7th inning at Huntington Avenue Grounds, the A's Stuffy McInnis steps into the batter's box to lead off and hits Ed Karger's warm-up pitch for an inside-the-park home run while the Red Sox are still taking their positions. Boston manager Patsy Donovan's protests to ump Ben Egan, but Egan rejects the protest on the basis of Ban Johnson's new rule prohibiting warm-up pitches. The A's win, 7–3. Ban Johnson's time-saving rule, which declares that pitchers must throw as soon as the batter is in the box, is soon withdrawn.
» September 15, 1911: Washington manager Jimmy McAleer announces his resignation. Ban Johnson then arranges for McAleer and Robert R. McRoy buy a half-interest in the Red Sox for $150,000. Clark Griffith will take over as manager and, by purchasing 10% of the team, its largest single stock holder.
» May 15, 1912: Ty Cobb charges into the stands in New York and attacks a crippled heckler named Claude Lueker. Other fans and Tigers mix it up before order is restored, and Ban Johnson suspends Cobb indefinitely for the incident.
» May 18, 1912:
The $400,000 Redland Field is dedicated in Cincinnati. A number of dignitaries, including Pennsylvania governor John Tener, AL Prexy Ban Johnson, and White Sox owner Charles Comiskey are on hand. Designed by Harry Hake at a cost of $225,000, the field replaces the aging Palace of the Fans on the same site, and looks very much like the Crosley Field that will eventually replace it. The Reds then delight the 20,000 fans by beating Christy Mathewson and the Giants, 4–3.
» May 19, 1912: President Ban Johnson meets with the Tigers and tells them they will play in Washington the next day or never again. Urged by Ty Cobb, they go back to work. Cobb is fined $50, and his suspension will be lifted May 26th. Players who had signed the strike telegram sent to Johnson are fined $100 each. A new players' organization will be formed as a result of the incident.
» August 26, 1912: Walter Johnson's 16-game winning streak ends under AL rules of the time. In the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Browns, he relieves Tom Hughes with one out and two on in the 7th inning of a 2–2 game. The two runners score on a Pete Compton single up the middle and the Nationals lose, 4–3. The two runs are charged to Johnson, not Hughes, giving him the defeat. Under the NL's rules, Johnson would not be charged with the loss. After the season, AL president Ban Johnson will change the rules to conform with the senior circuit, but he will deny he does it because of this game.
» September 10, 1912: Boston's Smoky Joe Wood wins his 15th straight, with 9th inning relief help from Sea Lion Hall, beating the White Sox, 5–4. He scatters 12 hits and strikes out 5. There is some question about which pitcher should receive credit for the win, but American League president Ban Johnson will rule in favor of Wood.
» April 10, 1913: President Woodrow Wilson, who receives a gold pass from Ban Johnson, throws out the first ball at Washington's home opener at National Park. Under new manager Frank Chance, New York is playing its first official game as Yankees. New York starter George McConnell, 8–12 last year as a 35-year-old rookie, allows just six hits but loses to Walter Johnson 2–1. Danny Moeller drives in both Nat runs with a single. After giving up an unearned run in the first, Johnson begins a string of shutout innings that will reach a record 55 2/3 before the St. Louis Browns score in the 4th on May 14th. Johnson scatters eight hits today, including one by 1B Charlie Sterrett. Regular first sacker Hal Chase, though left-handed, fills in at second base for injured player/manager Frank Chance.
» July 6, 1913: At St. Louis, the Senators push across two runs in the top of the 9th to take a 3–2 lead, Walter Johnson, the 4th Washington pitcher, shuts out the Browns in the 9th and is awarded the win. As reported in Sporting Life, Prexy "Ban Johnson rules that when a pitcher leaves the box at the end of an inning he shall not receive benefit of any runs made in the following inning. He says all runs should aid the reliever, not the previous pitcher."
» December 4, 1914: Walter Johnson accepts a $6,000 bonus from the FL Chicago Whales and signs a three-year contract for $17,500 per year. Clark Griffith threatens to take Johnson to court, claiming he has paid Johnson for the reserve option in his contract. American League Prexy Ban Johnson asserts that Johnson was on the market and is "damaged goods," worth getting rid of. Griffith travels to Coffeyville, KS, to persuade his franchise player that the option clause is legal and binding. Two weeks later Griffith signs Johnson for three years at $12,500 per year and returns the bonus to the Feds.
» December 8, 1914: After weeks of rumors, the bomb drops: Connie Mack sells Eddie Collins, generally regarded as the game's finest position player, to the White Sox for $50,000. Collins signs a 5-year contract worth $75,000 and gets $15,000 as a signing bonus. The deal breaks up the A's "$100,000 infield" and raises conjecture that Mack, too, will leave to manage the Yankees. Ban Johnson reportedly had a hand in the negotiations, sending the A's star to counter the box office effect of the Chifeds signing Walter Johnson.
» December 31, 1914: Ban Johnson's efforts to strengthen the New York Yankees succeed when he arranges the purchase of the team by Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston for $460,000 from Bill Devery and Frank Farrell. After Detroit owner Navin refuses to let Hugh Jennings go, the new Yankee owners will name longtime Detroit pitcher Bill Donovan as manager. Donovan was recently manager of Providence (IL).
» February 16, 1916: Energetic recruiting by Ban Johnson produces a pair of Chicago contractors to take over the Cleveland franchise from Charles W. Somers, a lavish spender at the American League's creation but now in financial difficulties. J.C. Dunn and P.S. McCarthy pay $500,000—$60,000 less than the asking price. E.S. Barnard will stay on as vice president; Lee Fohl, as manager.
» April 12, 1916:
The Red Sox trade star outfielder Tris Speaker, who did not take to the notion of his salary being cut, to Cleveland for two players -- Sam Jones and Fred Thomas -- and $50,000. Speaker will hold out for $10,000 of the purchase price: Ban Johnson will finally intervene and Speaker will collect. A few days earlier, the Yankees had turned down the offer of Speaker for cash and Fritz Maisel.
» August 19, 1917: Coaching at 3B in a 1–1 game against Washington, Ty Cobb gives base runner "Tioga" George Burns a shove when Burns stops at 3B on a long hit; Burns keeps going and scores the winning run. Clark Griffith protests, and Ban Johnson upholds him, as the rules now ban coaches from touching a runner. The game is replayed, and Washington wins 2–0.
» September 1, 1917:
AL president Ban Johnson instructs umpires not to tolerate unnecessary delays. His statement is an outgrowth of a complaint by Charles Comiskey that protests of some managers and players about the condition of the ball in recent games has made it necessary to play two hours or more. The New York Times writes that, "Johnson said he would enforce the rule about discoloration of the ball but he has given out no bulletin on the 'shine ball.'"
» July 19, 1918:
Washington C Eddie Ainsmith applies for deferment from the draft. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker rules that baseball is not an essential occupation and all players of draft age are subject to the "work-in-essential-industries-or-fight"
rule. The ruling sends many players to work in shipyards and other defense industries, where they can play part-time or semipro. Ban Johnson says the AL will close down July 21st, but the next day both leagues vote to continue. A week later, Baker exempts players from the rule until September first. Both leagues vote to cut the season short, and end on Labor Day, September 2nd.
» August 26, 1918:
Ban Johnson casts the deciding vote in a National Commission decision awarding the disputed services of P Jack Quinn to the Yankees for 1919 over the claim of the White Sox, for whom Quinn was 5-1 this year.
» July 13, 1919:
Submarine P Carl Mays quits the mound after two innings at Chicago, blaming his teammates for lack of support afield. In defiance of Ban Johnson's order that no action be taken until Mays is returned to good standing, Boston owner Harry Frazee trades Mays to the Yankees for pitchers Bob McGraw Allen Russell and $40,000. Johnson suspends Mays indefinitely and orders umpires not to let him pitch for New York. The Yankees get a court order restraining Johnson from interfering, further eroding Johnson's authority and standing. The AL directors will reinstate Mays. In retaliation, on October 29th the National Commission will refuse to recognize the Yankees' third-place finish and will withhold the players' share of the pool. New York's owners will pay out of their own pockets.
» October 2, 1919:
Charles Comiskey tells NL president Heydler
that Sox manager Kid Gleason is suspicious of his
players. Heydler confers with Ban Johnson, who takes
no action, fearing it will look like revenge against
Comiskey, with whom he has been feuding. As the games
unfold, reporters Ring Lardner and Christy Mathewson
do not like what they see. Chicago reporter Hugh Fullerton
will raise questions during the winter. Comiskey will
offer a reward for information, but the 1920 season
will open with the same lineup for Chicago, minus
Chick Gandil, who will be in the PCL.
» December 10, 1919:
With the opposition led by New York, Boston, and Chicago owners, the American League directors pass a resolution accusing Ban Johnson of overstepping his duties. They demand that league files be turned over to them and that an auditor review all financial accounts.
» September 18, 1920: National League directors meet in New York, joined by Jacob Ruppert, Cap Huston, Charles Comiskey, and Harry Frazee of the American League. They name a committee to draw up an agreement along the lines of Albert Lasker's proposal, and give the five AL clubs still backing Ban Johnson an ultimatum: come in by November 1st or the Yankees, White Sox, and Red Sox will pull out of the AL and join a 12-team NL (with a team in Detroit to complete the roster). The AL five turns it down, and bluff and counterbluff blow through the autumn air.
» October 18, 1920:
NL directors meet in New York, joined by Jacob Ruppert,
Cap Huston, Charles Comiskey, and Harry Frazee of
the AL. They name a committee to draw up an agreement
along the lines of Albert Lasker's proposal, and give
the 5 AL clubs still backing Ban Johnson an ultimatum:
come in by November 1st or the Yankees, White Sox,
and Red Sox will pull out of the AL and join a 12-team
NL (with a team in Detroit to complete the roster).
The AL 5 turns it down, and bluff and counterbluff
blow through the autumn air.
» November 8, 1920: At a meeting to depose Ban Johnson, a new 12-team National League, made up of the dissenting 11 teams plus one of the five teams loyal to Johnson, is agreed to. John Heydler will be its president and Judge Landis the proposed chairman of the new commission. With no stomach for another war, four of the five American League clubs still backing Johnson agree to a joint meeting November 12th in Chicago.
» November 12, 1920: With Ban Johnson barred from the meeting, the 16 ML clubs settle their differences. The 12-team-league idea is discarded, and the two leagues will continue with their same identities. The owners unanimously elect Kenesaw Mountain Landis chairman for seven years. Judge Landis accepts, but only as sole commissioner with final authority over the players and owners, while remaining a federal judge (with his $7,500 federal salary deducted from the baseball salary of $50,000). The agreement will be signed on January 12, 1921, when he is to begin his duties.
» September 24, 1921:
Harry Heilmann is 3-for-4 against Walter Johnson, but Washington wins the game over Detroit, 5–1. Ty Cobb is so incense by the umpiring of Billy Evans that he challenges him to a fight. The two future Hall of Famers go at it with Cobb getting the best of Evans. George Hildebrand, the 2nd ump assigned to the game, reports the incident to American League prexy Ban Johnson. When Johnson fails to act, Commissioner Landis steps in and suspends Cobb, but allows him to continue as a non-playing manager.
» May 15, 1922: In a 4–1 win at New York, Ty Cobb beats out a grounder to SS Everett Scott. Veteran writer Fred Lieb scores it a hit in the box score he files with the Associated Press. But official scorer John Kieran of the New York Tribune gives an error to Scott. At the season's end, the American League official records, based on AP box scores, list Cobb at .401. New York writers complain unsuccessfully, claiming it should be .399, based on the official scorer's stats. Lieb will reverse himself at the end of the year, but Ban Johnson goes with the hit call.
» May 20, 1922: Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel (and since-traded pitcher Bill Piercy), suspended on October 16, 1921, by Judge Landis, are reinstated and return to the New York lineup going hitless in New York's 8–2 loss to the rallying Browns at the Polo Grounds. The Browns, down 2–0 after 7, score one in the 8th and seven in the 9th, six of them coming after the game-ending out is called by ump Ollie Chill at first base. Pitcher Sam Jones, taking the throw at 1B from Wally Pipp, apparently makes the 3rd out and fans swarm the field. But Jones does not hold onto the ball cleanly and plate ump Brick Owens instructs Chill to make a safe call. The tying run scores on the play and, when the action resumes 15 minutes later, Wally Gerber singles to make the score 3–2. Walks to Sisler and Williams force home another run, and Baby Doll Jacobson clears the bases with a grand slam into the RF stands to complete the scoring. Winner Urban Shocker allows just three hits, including a two-run homer by second baseman Aaron Ward. The loss to Jones starts him on a 10-game losing streak, while a cold Ban Johnson will let umpire Ollie Chill go after the season.
» September 16, 1922: Pennant fever rages in St. Louis, as the Yankees come to town with a half-game lead. Bob Shawkey outpitches Urban Shocker 2–1, as Sisler ties Ty Cobb's 1911 record by hitting in his 40th straight game. While chasing a fly ball in the 9th, New York OF Whitey Witt is hit in the head and knocked cold by a soda bottle thrown from the bleachers. Ban Johnson will initially offer a $1,000 reward for the name of the bottle-thrower. Then, to calm the crowds, the American League offers the theory that Witt stepped on the bottle and it flew up and hit him. The incident leads to a ban on the sale of bottled drinks in ballparks.
» December 14, 1922:
Still smarting over the rejection of the official scorer's decision in the Ty Cobb case, the national baseball writers' group meets and votes to back the New York group's protest. Fred Lieb, who had filled in the AP box score giving Cobb the disputed hit, asks Ban Johnson to revise the records to .399 for Cobb. Johnson complains of not receiving box scores from some writers, who are appointed by the clubs as official scorers.
» August 20, 1923: A 4-piece bat used by Ruth is banned by AL president Ban Johnson because of the glue used on it. A protest is made against the Browns' Ken Williams for using a bat with a wooden plug in it. Johnson rules that all bats must be one piece with nothing added except tape extending to 18 inches up the handle.
» October 19, 1923: Citing the unsavory characters associated with the sport, American League president Ban Johnson persuades AL owners to prohibit boxing matches in their parks. The National League declines to go along with it.
» October 1, 1924: Another bribery scandal clouds the World Series atmosphere. Judge Landis bans Giants OF Jimmy O'Connell and coach Cozy Dolan from the World Series after they admit an attempt to bribe Phils SS Heinie Sand on the 27th to "go easy" in their season-ending series against the Giants. O'Connell implicates Frank Frisch, George Kelly, and Ross Youngs, who deny everything and are cleared by Landis. O'Connell is out of baseball at 23. American League President Ban Johnson, an enemy of the Giants John McGraw, proclaims that the World Series should be canceled because of the betting scandal, a pronouncement that the owners will ignore. Johnson, however, decides not to attend any World Series games.
» October 15, 1925:
When the Senators arrive in Washington, a telegram is waiting from American League president Ban Johnson, who boycotted the series again because of his feud with Landis. In a veiled criticism of Bucky Harris's decision to keep Johnson in the game, Johnson wire reads: "This I admire. Lost the Series for sentimental reasons. This should never occur in a world series." Bucky Harris calls the words, "gratuitous."
» December 9, 1925: The American League extends Ban Johnson's contract to 1935 and gives him a raise to $40,000.
» November 29, 1926: Tris Speaker resigns as Indians manager. Stories of a thrown game and betting on games by Ty Cobb and Speaker gain momentum when Judge Landis holds a secret hearing with the two stars and former pitcher-OF Joe Wood. The story and testimony will not be released until December 21st. Former Tiger P Dutch Leonard wrote to Harry Heilmann that he had turned over letters written to him by Joe Wood and Ty Cobb to American League president Ban Johnson, implicating Wood and Cobb in betting on a Tiger-Cleveland game played in Detroit, September 25, 1919. He charged that Cobb and Speaker conspired to let Detroit win to help them gain 3rd-place money. At a secret meeting of AL directors, it was decided to let Cobb and Speaker resign with no publicity. But, as rumors spread, Judge Landis takes charge of the matter and holds the hearings, at which Leonard refuses to appear. Cobb and Wood admit to the letters, but say it was a horse racing bet, and contend Leonard is angry for having been released to the Pacific Coast League by Cobb. Speaker, not named in the letters, denies everything. Public sympathy is with the stars, but the matter will remain unresolved until January of next year.
» January 23, 1927: In the continuing clash between Judge Landis and Ban Johnson, the American League owners are prepared to censure Johnson. But his serious health problems convince them to change their stance and Ban Johnson is given an indefinite leave of absence instead. Detroit's President Frank Navin is named acting AL president and the owners adopt a resolution repudiating the charges that Johnson made against Landis.
» October 17, 1927:
Ban Johnson, in failing health, retires as AL president
after heading the league he started for its first
28 years. Detroit's President Frank Navin is named
acting president.
» February 27, 1931:
E.S. Barnard, recently reappointed American League president, dies at 57. He had succeeded Ban Johnson in 1927.
» February 28, 1931: Ban Johnson dies after a long illness. He had created the American League and been its dynamic, dictatorial leader until subdued by the advent of Judge Landis, who took office as the first commissioner in January 1921.
» December 7, 1937: Five of baseball's pioneers are added to the Hall of Fame: Connie Mack, John McGraw, Morgan Bulkeley, Ban Johnson, and George Wright.
» February 8, 1956: The legendary Connie Mack dies at age 93. He began his career with Washington in 1886 as a catcher. After managing the National League Pittsburgh club from 1894-96, he became a prominent figure in Ban Johnson's Western League and a founder of the American League and its Philadelphia franchise in 1901. In 50 years as the Athletics pilot he won nine pennants and five World Championships, but also finished last 17 times.
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