[...]... percent, a greater level than management had even sought But it had been his role in delaying the  Federal League lawsuit and thereby giving the magnates time A N E W E R A  to buy out their rivals that had drawn them to him as a commissioner candidate amidst the ‘‘Black Sox’’ scandal It was similarly reassuring to baseball management to recall how during the Federal League trial he had railed at all... called for a five-year ‘‘statute of limitations’’ on past gambling transgressions a step National League president Heydler admitted owed primarily to the reality that baseball could not a ord to blacklist at least thirty more players In early February Landis infuriated American League president Ban Johnson by issuing a similarly forgiving verdict on the original Cobb-Speaker allegations, rather than. .. Landis had been prepared to let the full scandal break wide open and bring down Giants management en masse.22 A N E W E R A  Landis’s handling of the O’Connell-Dolan a air demonstrated his newfound distaste for exposing player game- tampering on his watch An even clearer indication of his desire to declare a statute of limitations on such allegations—and to insulate the game from further public taint—came... secretary when Grover Cleveland named the patron secretary of state After Gresham’s death two years later, Landis returned to Chicago to practice law and soon acquired a new political mentor, Frank Lowden The young attorney served as Lowden’s gubernatorial campaign manager, and when Lowden lost and then declined appointment to a federal judgeship, Landis stepped into the post As judge and, later, baseball... their salary relationship to those they supervised deteriorating Major league arbiters generally earned about the same as an average player, while the highest-paid among them earned about , As the visibility and gate revenues of the fall classic grew, umpires demanded a raise in their series pay from the fixed , to an escalating stipend equal to the average player share They also lamented... to gain written consent for any public appearances, A N E W E R A  newspaper or magazine article deals, commercial sponsorships, radio appearances, or participation in any other sporting activities These various conduct prohibitions proved far easier to enforce upon the vast majority of journeyman players than upon the game s stars The latter not only enjoyed far more outside offers but greater marketplace... Landis as commissioner, offered an accurate picture of the judge as ‘‘intolerant of opposition, suspicious of reform and reformers, and skeptical of compromise.’’ 14 Landis loved to crusade against anything that could be depicted as radicalism, un-Americanism, or moral decay, and he saw himself a superpatriot upholding traditional American values and institutions When a German submarine sank the Lusitania... the family and a person whose love and loyalty have sustained me in bad times and good—and with whom the latter rapidly distances the former P R E F A C E xi PART ONE THE PATERNALISTIC ERA The Age of Rickey CHAPTER 1 : A NEW ERA – In the decade following World War I, the United States entered a new era as a confident, maturing nation A majority of its citizens now lived in urban areas and served... following May a dozen of them from major and minor leagues in the New York area had met to consider the formation of a protective association Aware of their own vulnerability to management retaliation,  T H E P A T E R N A L I S T I C E R A the participants discussed retaining a retired veteran arbiter to head their organization While group discussions ‘‘here and there’’ and formation of local ‘‘associations... Stoneham and manager McGraw to relinquish holdings in the Oriental Park racetrack and casino near Havana, Cuba, gambling kingpin and  fixorchestrator Arnold Rothstein continued to frequent Stoneham’s private box at the Polo Grounds The Giants’ magnate retained his baseball position even after he was indicted by separate grand juries for perjury and mail fraud connected to the collapse of two Wall Street . class="bi x0 y0 w1 h1" alt="" MUCH MORE THAN A GAME