As commissioner of baseball, the signature of Happy Chandler is readily available to autograph collectors. In the collection is a letter with remarkable content. Here Chandler rails against Leo Durocher who he suspended for the 1947 season in a letter to Hall of Fame columnist Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times.

Chandler scolds Murray, telling him, “The suspension of Durocher was legal and proper and overdue.” The commissioner goes on to say, “I just wanted you to know that even years after the official order of suspension was made, it was on the lenient side.”

The rest of the content is equally harsh on Leo the lip. It’s a must-read for any fan of Durocher, Chandler, or baseball.

On page two of the letter, Chandler signs his name boldly and ads a post script. In it he lets Murray know that former governor of Michigan and Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy was against Leo Durocher managing the Dodgers in 1947, the year of Jackie Robinson’s debut.

Chandler writes that, “If Durocher was permitted on be the ball field during that year, they [Murphy] would recommend that the little Catholic children in Brooklyn not be permitted to attend the game.”

Jim Murray wrote columns for the Los Angeles Times for 37 years. He was the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Sportswriter of the Year award 12 consecutive seasons and 14 overall. In 1987 he was awarded the J,G, Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1989. In typical modesty Murray said, “Correctly quoting Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda shouldn’t merit a Pulitzer Prize.”

Here is the envelope that housed the letter from Chandler to Murray.

In 1946, Major League players Danny Gardella, Sal Maglie, Alex Carrasquel, Max Lanier, and Mickey Owen accepted $10,000 each to play in the Mexican League. In response Commissioner Chandler banned them for five years on grounds that they violated baseball’s reserve clause. Gardella sued Major League Baseball and the New York Giants charging that the reserve clause was invalid.

By 1949 the case was still mired in the courts when Chadlner offered amnesty to Gardella as well as a rumored settlement of $60,000. Late in the year, Gardella dropped his lawsuit.

In this letter, Chandler writes to Dodger owner Walter O’Malley about the case. “I want to thank you…for the very important part you played in helping to bring about the satisfactory settlement in the Gardella case.”

After going to Mexico to earn more money in the off-season, Danny Gardella came under attack from commissioner Happy Chandler. In this letter Gardella writes in part, “Cheap and monopolistic Happy Chandler banished all players (who) went to Mexico and I asked Fred Johnson to represent me in court and the reserve clause became infamous and the great American game tried to make proper changes like unions to shape the modern player.”

A reflective Danny Gardella continues, “I hope I have been good for baseball…” One of the earliest players to train with weights, Gardella was also known for his ability to walk on his hands and perform acrobatic stunts. In three Major League seasons, Gardella played 169 games and hit .267 with 24 homers and 85 runs batted in.

No manager in the history of the game won more World Series championships than Casey Stengel. In the collection is a congratulatory letter from Baseball Commissioner Albert B. “Happy” Chandler dated less than three weeks after Stengel’s Yankees vanquished the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was the first of five consecutive Yankee titles under Stengel. In 12 years with the Yanks, Stengel would tally ten American League pennants and seven World Championships.

When it came time to select the starting pitcher for the 1950 National League All Star team, the choice was clear: Robin Roberts. That was the year that the Hall of Fame pitcher came into his own during his age-23 season. Pitching in his first All Star game — as a starter no less — Roberts threw three innings and allowed one run on three hits. He would finish the regular season with a 20-11 mark, the first of six consecutive years with 20+ wins. One of the perks of being commissioner is writing a letter to an All Star. Imagine Roberts receiving this and appreciating it enough to keep it all these years.

In this letter, dated 1986, Happy Chandler thanks commissioner Peter Ueberroth for helping former player Paul Derringer who pitched in the 1930s and 40s. The cause of helping the, “major league players of yesterday”, as Chandler put it, was near and dear to his heart. The commissioner formed a pension plan for players that was enacted February 1, 1947.

Chandler goes on to recall with a sense of sadness that Pete Alexander and Dazzy Vance fell on hard times in retirement.

“After their brilliant careers they were playing one night stands with the House of David Baseball Team. I thought that this was a tragedy, and made up my mind that if I ever had an opportunity, I would undertake to get a pension fund for the Major League players…”

Chandler mentioned this episode of Alexander and Vance in his induction speech.

Though Alexander pitched in the big leagues until he was 43, he left the game with no other job skills and little hope of earning income. Plagued with epilepsy, Alexander found work playing with the House of David baseball team, a bearded bunch of folks who would travel town to town to play exhibitions.

In this letter dated September 8, 1987 former commissioner Happy Chandler gives his opinion of the Hall of Fame candidacy of Detroit star Bobby Veach. How does Chandler feel about the man who, along with Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford formed what many consider the greatest outfield ever? “Bobby Veach is certainly worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame,” the former baseball boss writes. Many agree. Veach led the AL in RBI three times and doubles twice on his way to 2,063 hits and a .310 lifetime average.

Joe Sewell, himself a member of the Hall of Fame agrees with Happy Chandler’s assessment of Bobby Veach’s Cooperstown candidacy. In this handwritten correspondence Sewell writes, “Yes, Bob Veach was a great player…He could do everything in baseball and was a credit to the game. He should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.” The letter provides a sterling endorsement from a man who played five years against Veach.

Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler received baseball’s highest honor when the Veterans Committee selected him for the Baseball Hall of Fame. That same year the committee also chose longtime New York Giants shortstop Travis Jackson.

On the writers’ side, there were two first-ballot inductees. Hank Aaron was one of the no-doubt choices. His time in baseball included an MLB-record 25 All Star selections. The Hammer also broke perhaps the most hallowed record in sports – Babe Ruth’s career home run mark. He was joined by 1966 Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson who tallied 2,943 hits and 586 homers.

The quartet was inducted on August 1, 1982 on a hot summer day in Cooperstown. Shown here is an invitation to the festivities signed by Jackson at the bottom.

The Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes men who left an everlasting impression on the game. In addition to players, umpires, and general managers, four commissioners have earned induction.

Baseball’s first commissioner was Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Brought in to fortify the integrity of the game after the 1919 White Sox scandal, Landis ruled with an iron fist from 1921-1944. Two weeks after his death on November 25, 1944, Landis was voted into Cooperstown by a special committee. In Landis’ absence his successor Happy Chandler accepted the honor on his behalf.

From 1945-1952 Chandler was baseball’s chief. He oversaw the racial integration of the sport. The Veterans Committee voted gave Chandler baseball’s highest honor when he was inducted in 1982.

Longtime National League President Ford Frick took baseball’s reins in 1952. As NL boss he helped found the Hall of Fame. In MLB’s driver’s seat, he oversaw expansion from 8 teams in each league to ten. Frick got his Cooperstown plaque in 1970.

The fourth commissioner of the game was William “Spike” Eckert, a lieutenant general in the Air Force. Virtually unknown to the public, Eckert was tabbed with the nickname “The Unknown Soldier”. His relative anonymity continues today.

Baseball’s youngest commissioner remains Bowie Kuhn who was named to the position at 42 years of age. A lawyer by trade, Kuhn served as a counsel to Major League Baseball for nearly 20 years prior to his election as commissioner.

During a tumultuous rule that lasted from 1969-1984, Kuhn introduced night baseball to the World Series, and helped usher former Negro League players into the Hall of Fame. Near the end of his time in baseball he helped clean up baseball’s cocaine problem. Kuhn was succeeded by former president of the United States Olympic Committee, Peter Ueberroth.

In this letter baseball’s second commissioner Happy Chandler writes to Kuhn.

“A letter from Commissioner Ueberroth informs me that he is writing the members of the Hall of Fame Committee asking that they elect you to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“This is the one ambition I have left for Baseball.

“Forty years have passed since I stood on the steps of Cooperstown…and accepted the plaque for Judge Landis. He was not elected a member of the Hall of Fame until after his death, which I thought was a tragedy.

“I do not want this to happen to you.”

Chandler lived to the ripe old age 92 before passing away in 1991. Kuhn passed away in 2007 and was inducted the following year.