Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - A. B. "Happy" Chandler

While I am waiting on Drew to catch up with posts from our Hall of Fame trip, I figured now would be a good time to show another one of the baseballs I bought while we were between signings.  Actually, I am pretty sure I got this one between the last signing that we went to and the Hall of Fame parade.  Things are a little fuzzy, I really should have jotted some notes down in my notebook.

Anyway, I picked up my 89th Hall of Fame signed baseball (I misspoke when I said Killebrew was my 87th.  Rickey - the one of him that I got in Columbia - was my 87th).

"Happy" Chandler (b. 1898 - d. 1991) was a senator from and governor of Kentucky and the second commissioner of baseball, taking the helm upon the passing of Kenesaw Mountain Landis.  Chandler was chosen as commissioner in part due to the team owners wanting someone with political ties to represent their interests in Washington, DC during World War II.

Chandler was the commissioner when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.  He served as commissioner of baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1982 by the Veterans Committee.  When he died in 1991 at the age of 92, he had been the oldest living member of the Hall of Fame.