6/15/2008:
Former Major League Baseball commissioner, Albert “Happy” Chandler, passed away on this day in 1991. While holding the commissioner’s office, Chandler initiated the racial integration of Major League Baseball. It is a story in which North Dakota played a supporting role.
While attending college in Kentucky, Chandler spent the summer of 1920 playing with a semi-professional baseball team out of Grafton, North Dakota, where Chandler often played against African-American rivals. It was also during the summer in North Dakota that his dreams of playing in the major leagues ended. A Grafton teammate secured Chandler a tryout with the Saskatoon club in the Western Canadian League, but he failed to make the cut.
Returning to Kentucky, Chandler instead pursued a career in law and politics, eventually leading him to the baseball commissionership. Through Chandler’s efforts as commissioner, Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Dodgers in 1947.
Written by Christina Sunwall
Sources:
Eriksmoen, Curt. Did You Know That...?: 47 Fascinating Stories About People Who Have Lived in North Dakota. Vol. 1: McCleery & Sons Publishing, 2006.
Happy Chandler, Vance H. Trimble. Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks: The Life and Times of Happy Chandler. Chicago: Bonus Books, Inc., 1989.