Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
After the 1919 World Series gambling conspiracy, baseball team owners and league officials chose Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge with a grandstanding reputation, as baseball's first commissioner. Landis's efforts to root out gambling and corruption met with approval until November 1921, when he suspended Babe Ruth for violating a rarely enforced rule against exhibition games in the off season. Fans wrote to express support for Landis's decision, their displeasure at his treatment of Ruth, or to ask for an early reinstatement.
Loan from National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Loan from National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
