Evening star., 1944-11-25

he was a principal speaker.
play ball with the Albany IN. "
club Of the international League.
The Executive Committee of the
National Association Of Profess
sional Baseball Leagues voted to
bar Pitts from the diamond. Pitts
appealed to Judge Lands, who said
he agreed with the committees de-
cision, but cited that "a condition
has been created in which there
cannot be much doubt as to the
destructive effects on Pitts efforts
toward rehabilitation Of not per-
mitting him to enter baseball en-
ployment."
In 1856 he upheld the Cleveland
Indians claim to Bob Feller, then q
sensational young Iowa pitcher. It
was up to Judge Lands to name the
youngster the property of the Cleve-
land club or declare him a free
agent on the grounds that the club
violated an agreement between ma
jor and minor leagues by signing
him of the sandlots before he had
signed minor league contract.
The commissioners ruling brought
a storm about his head. Powell
Crosley, jr., owner and president of
the Cincinnati Reds, one of the most
outspoken critics, declared his club
got pretty raw deal"
Accused Detroit Club.
In the spring Of 1887 Judge Lands
declared Tom Heinrich, then q rookie
In the minors and later q star out
fielder with the New York Yankees.
a free agent. He found that Cleve-
land secretly owned the outfelder
while he was under contract to
minor league clubs in New Orleans,
Nashville, Tenn, and Milwaukee.
In 1888 he sharply criticized the
st. Louis Cardinals farm system and
Branch Hickey, general manager of
the club. He fined three minor
clubs and made players in six clubs
free agents for what he said was
their participation in secret work.
ing agreements"
In 1910 he accused the Detroit
club Of covering up" young players
and forced the release Of 81, includ-
ing the celebrated Benny Mccoy,
who sold himself to Philadelphia for
$45, 900 and a two-year contract at
$4,000.
Baseball-from millionaire presi-
dents down to chubby bat boys
called Judge Lands a tough man.
Yet on one touching occasion
the adamant' quality was notice.
ably softened. Mickey Cochrane,
catcher-manager of the Detroit
Tigers, had been seriously in
jured by a pitched ball in a game
with the New York Yankees. From
his lodgings in Washington, Judge
Lands kept in communication
with the New York hospital where
Cochrane lay. Finally, word came
through that Cochrane was i'm
proved. Sunlight betrayed to others
in the room tears in the old mans
eyes.
Always insistent on the highest
standards OF sportsmanship, Judge
Lands made it an infiexible rule
that rowdyism and hoodlumism
would not be tolerated in baseball.
When Umpire Emmett Ormsby was
injured by a thrown bottle at a
White Sox-Yankee game in Chi
cago in 1895, he offered 5000 re-
ward to any one who could help
to identify the offending spectator.
Born at Millville, Ohio, November
20, 1866, to Abraham and Mary Lam
dis, Judge Landis was named after
Kenesaw Mountain, near Atlanta,
Ga, scene of Civil War battle in
which his father was wounded.
He was educated in the public
schools Of Logansport, Ind, received
a bachelor Of laws degree from
Union College Of Law in Chicago in
1891, and was admitted to the bar
the same year.
From then until he received his
Federal judgeship he practiced law
in Chicago-except for two years in
Washington as secretary to Secre-
tary of State Walter @. Gresham,
who had been his fathers COM
mander in the Civil War.
Rockefeller Summoned.
The Standard Oil fine came after
a trial of six weeks during which
Judge Lands compelled John D.
Rockefeller, ST., to come to Chicago
and testify. The company stood in
dicted on 1,462 counts, each alleging
that 1t had accepted q rebate from
the Chicago & Alton Railroad on the
shipment of one car of oil from
Whiting, Ind, to East st. Louis, Ill.
The rebates aggregated 1928 900 and