Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931), was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 executive in professional baseball

Professional baseball

Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

 who served as the founder and first president of the American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

 (AL).

Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of the minor league Western League

Western League (U.S. baseball)

The Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, simply called the Western League, was a minor league baseball league originally founded on February 11, 1885, and focused in the Midwest....

—into a "clean" alternative to the National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

, which had become notorious for its rough-and-tumble atmosphere. To encourage a more orderly environment, Johnson strongly supported the new league's umpires, which eventually included Hall of Famer Billy Evans

Billy Evans

William George Evans , nicknamed "The Boy Umpire," was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927...

.

With the help of league owners and managers such as Charles Comiskey

Charles Comiskey

Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...

, Charles Somers

Charles Somers

Charles Somers aka Charles W. Somers, was an American executive in Cleveland, Ohio's coal industry who also achieved prominence in Major League Baseball...

 and Jimmy McAleer

Jimmy McAleer

James Robert "Loafer" McAleer was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns,...

, Johnson lured top talent to the AL, which soon rivaled the more established National League. Johnson dominated the AL until the mid-1920s, when a public dispute with Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...

 culminated in his forced resignation as league president.

The Western League

Born in Norwalk, Ohio

Norwalk, Ohio

At the 2000 census, there were 16,238 people, 6,377 households and 4,234 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,950.3 per square mile . There were 6,687 housing units at an average density of 803.1 per square mile...

, Johnson went on to study law at Marietta College

Marietta College

Marietta College is a co-educational private college in Marietta, Ohio, USA, which was the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. The school offers 42 majors along with a large number of minors, all of which are grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation...

, although he did not earn his degree. He subsequently became the sports editor of a newspaper in Cincinnati. During this time, Johnson befriended Charles Comiskey, who was then manager of the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

. At the urging of Comiskey and Reds owner John T. Brush

John T. Brush

John Tomlinson Brush was an American sports executive who was the owner of the New York Giants franchise in Major League Baseball from 1890 until his death. He also owned the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the late 1880s, and the Cincinnati Reds from 1891 to 1902. Under his leadership, the Giants were...

, Johnson was elected as president of the Western League, a faltering minor league

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

, at a reorganization meeting held in .

Johnson had criticized the National League for its rowdy atmosphere, which was driving away families and women. He set about making baseball more friendly to both. Contrary to the practice of the time, Johnson gave his umpires

Umpire (baseball)

In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...

 unqualified support and had little tolerance for players or managers who failed to show them due respect. In addition, he fined and suspended players who used foul language on the field. Soon, the Western League was recognized as not only the strongest minor league, but also as the most effectively managed league in all of baseball.

Formation of the American League

Johnson, however, had a bigger plan—another major league. With the help of Comiskey, who had purchased the Sioux City franchise and moved it to St. Paul in after leaving the Reds, Johnson initiated an ambitious plan of expansion. He got his chance after the season, when the National League dropped teams in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Cleveland,
Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 and Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 Johnson moved the Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

 franchise to Cleveland, where they would eventually become the Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

. He also had Comiskey move his St. Paul team to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where they eventually became the White Sox

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...

. The latter move was made with the blessing of the NL, which saw Comiskey's team as a way to head off any attempt to revive the American Association

American Association (19th century)

The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...

. For the 1900 season, the Western League was renamed as the American League, although it remained a minor league.

The 1900 season was an unqualified success, and Johnson received a 10-year contract extension. In October, he withdrew the AL from the National Agreement (the formal understanding between the NL and the minor leagues). The final step came on January 28, 1901, when he declared the AL would operate as a major league. He then placed teams in Baltimore, Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Philadelphia and Washington.

The Buffalo Bisons were to be a member of the new American League and their manager Franklin was told right up to Jan. 29, 1901, that "Buffalo was in the league and not to worry," Ban Johnson unceremoniously dumped Buffalo and placed the franchise in Boston. It was later revealed that he not only had been negotiating surreptitiously with Boston people for several months, but also that he had money invested in the Boston franchise. Johnson also had a large stake in the Washington franchise, which he kept until 1903.

A baseball power

The NL then made a critical blunder by limiting salaries to $2,400–a low sum even by 1901 standards. Johnson, Comiskey and the other AL owners responded by raiding NL rosters, promising disgruntled players much higher salaries. In 1901, the AL's St. Louis Browns alone drew future Hall of Famers Jesse Burkett

Jesse Burkett

Jesse Cail Burkett , nicknamed "The Crab", was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century...

 and Bobby Wallace

Bobby Wallace (baseball)

Rhoderick John "Bobby" Wallace was a Major League Baseball pitcher, infielder, manager, umpire and scout....

. Eventually, over 100 players "jumped" to the new league. After a two-year war in which the AL trounced the NL in attendance both seasons, the NL sued for peace. Under a new National Agreement, the AL was formally recognized as the second major league. A three-man National Commission was set up, composed of both league presidents and Reds owner Garry Herrmann. Although Herrmann was nominal president of the commission, Johnson soon dominated the body.

Johnson brooked no criticism, and made it very difficult for men he didn't like to buy into the league. For instance, when Harry Frazee

Harry Frazee

Harry Herbert Frazee was an American theatrical agent, producer and director, and former owner of the Major League Baseball Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923.- Life as owner of the Red Sox :...

 bought the Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 in , Johnson tried almost from the start to drive him out because Frazee had not been hand-picked by Johnson. At one point, Johnson even had ownership interests in the Cleveland and Washington

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

 teams.

Downfall

The Frazee dispute planted the seed for Johnson's downfall. Eventually, the league divided into two factions, with the Red Sox, White Sox and New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 on one side (commonly known as "The Insurrectos") and the other five clubs (the Indians, Philadelphia Athletics

Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....

, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 and Washington Senators

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

, known as the "Loyal Five") on the other. By this time, Comiskey had become a bitter enemy of Johnson; the two men's once warm friendship had strained considerably. Johnson's authority eroded further that year when the Red Sox traded Carl Mays

Carl Mays

Carl William Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman one of two people to die...

 to the Yankees in defiance of a Johnson order to suspend him after Mays had jumped the club. The Yankees went to court and received an injunction to allow Mays to play, as Johnson had demonstrated throughout the proceedings that his investment in the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

 hindered his ability to be impartial.

The final nail in Johnson's coffin proved to be the Black Sox Scandal

Black Sox Scandal

The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...

. Johnson paid no attention to Comiskey's claims that his White Sox may have been on the take from gamblers. However, when the scandal broke after the season, the White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees threatened to pull out of the AL and join a new 12-team National League. The enlarged league would include a new team in Detroit unrelated to the Tigers, who were owned by Johnson loyalist Frank Navin

Frank Navin

Francis Joseph Navin was the principal owner of the Detroit Tigers in Major League Baseball for 27 years, from 1909 to 1935. He also served as vice president and acting president of the American League....

. However, Navin was in no mood for another war and persuaded the other five clubs to agree to appoint a new National Commission of non-baseball men. Federal District Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as chairman. However, Landis would only accept an appointment as sole Commissioner of Baseball

Commissioner of Baseball

The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...

, with unlimited power over the game. The owners were still reeling from the damage to baseball's reputation due to the Black Sox Scandal, and readily agreed to Landis' demands.

Under the circumstances, a clash between the iron-willed Johnson and the iron-willed Landis was inevitable, and it happened prior to the 1924 World Series

1924 World Series

In the 1924 World Series, the Washington Senators beat the New York Giants in seven games. The Giants became the first team to play in four consecutive World Series, winning in 1921–1922 and losing in 1923–1924. Their long-time manager, John McGraw, made his ninth and final World Series appearance...

. Landis banned two New York Giants

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

 from the Series for attempting to bribe members of the Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 late in the season. After Frankie Frisch

Frankie Frisch

Francis “Frankie” Frisch , nicknamed the "Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was a German American Major League Baseball player of the early twentieth century....

 and two other Giants stars were implicated, only to be cleared by Landis, Johnson demanded that the Series be canceled. He publicly criticized Landis for his handling of the affair, and Landis threatened to resign if the AL owners didn't rein Johnson in. After the Series, the AL owners promised to remove Johnson from office if he stepped out of line again. Johnson remained on good behavior for two years, even getting an extension of his contract to and a raise to $40,000 (he'd previously made $25,000).

However, in , Johnson criticized Landis for granting Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...

 and Tris Speaker

Tris Speaker

Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...

 an amnesty after evidence surfaced that they had fixed a game in 1919. Landis demanded that the AL choose between him and Johnson. The AL owners were prepared to remove Johnson from office at their annual meeting in January . However, Johnson was in ill health at the time, and the owners decided to put him on an indefinite sabbatical instead. Johnson tried to return in the spring and acted as if nothing had changed. However, the situation had become untenable, and Johnson was forced to resign at the end of the season. He was replaced by longtime Indians general manager Ernest Barnard

Ernest Barnard

Ernest Sargent Barnard was the second President of the American League, serving from 1927 until his death in 1931. Born in West Columbia, West Virginia, he later resided in Delaware, Ohio. He graduated from Otterbein College in 1895, and became football and baseball coach there until 1898...

.

Legacy

Johnson died at age 67 in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937

Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1937

The 1937 process of selecting inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame was markedly different from the initial elections the previous year. As only half of the initial goal of 10 inductees had been selected in 1936, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America were once again given...

 as one of its charter members. The athletic fieldhouse at Marietta College

Marietta College

Marietta College is a co-educational private college in Marietta, Ohio, USA, which was the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. The school offers 42 majors along with a large number of minors, all of which are grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation...

 is named in his honor. He was laid to rest at Riverside Cemetery in Spencer

Spencer, Indiana

Spencer is a town in Washington Township, Owen County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,217 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Owen County.Spencer is part of the Bloomington, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. Will Harridge, who succeeded to the AL presidency in 1931, summed up Johnson's legacy in the following terms: "He was the most brilliant man the game has ever known. He was more responsible for making baseball the national game than anyone in the history of the sport".

External links

• BaseballLibrary - biography and career highlights
• Photo of gravesite