Interview with Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, November 7, 1984

Interview Summary

A. B. Happy Chandler, born in Corydon, KY, was the second commissioner of Major League baseball, from 1945 to 1951. In 1982, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In this interview, he talks about his encouragement of the development of the Minor Leagues while he was commissioner, the five-year ban that he placed on Mexican League players, Gardella v. Chandler, behavioral problems of baseball players and managers, especially of Leo Durocher, the Korean War's effect on baseball, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and his (Chandler's) involvement in the creation of the player pension plan. He also talks about his failure to have his contract as commissioner renewed for another term, his terms of resignation as baseball commissioner, his career as president of the International Baseball Congress, and some of the reforms he sees as being necessary for modern (1984) Major League baseball.

Interview Keyword

Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Baseball Baseball Commissioner

Interview LC Subject

Baseball Baseball--United States Chandler, Happy, 1898-1991 Chandler, Happy, 1898-1991--Interviews

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.