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Bowie Kuhn’s baseball roots run deep. As a teenager he worked the scoreboard for the Senators at Griffith Stadium. After earning his law degree, Kuhn served as the National League’s general counsel for more than a decade.

In 1969 he was given a one-year term as baseball’s fifth commissioner. Kuhn performed well enough to keep the job for 17 years.

One of the perks of the position as Commissioner of Baseball is interacting with former players. In this letter dated May 8, 1969 Bowie Kuhn writes to Casey Stengel inviting him to Baseball’s Centennial celebration.

It reads in part, “It is with extreme pleasure that I extend to you an invitation to be my guest at the Centennial celebration in Washington, D.C….”.

The rest of the letter is worth reading in this correspondence between two Hall of Famers.

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Shown here is Bowie Kuhn’s invitation to the Centennial Celebration to Hall of Fame pitcher Red Faber. It mirrors the letter to Stengel.

One can only imagine the trappings of Kuhn’s position as Commissioner of Baseball.

For the celebration, baseball commissioned a new MLB logo that is still in use today. There was also a record album narrated by Jimmy Stewart and an official anniversary book. The US Postal Service issued a first-class stamp.

The sport took the ambitious step of naming an All-Time Team and an All-Time Living Team. This increased interest in the game.

Baseball was in need of a shot in the arm. The previous season was so deprived of offense it was dubbed, “The Year of the Pitcher”. The Centennial Celebration gave the game just what it needed.

 

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The Centennial Celebration gave reason for the greatest living players to congregate in one place. Pie Traynor, Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Grove were chosen to both the All Time Team and the greatest living players. All three were in attendance.

All men selected to the living team were in attendance except Ted Williams. In a perplexing turn of events, DiMaggio was selected as the greatest living player, despite the presence of Williams, Willie Mays, and others. For the rest of his life, DiMaggio insisted as being introduced at baseball functions as the greatest living player.

Shown here is the envelope that contained Red Faber’s invitation to the event. Imagine the thrill he felt when he received this envelope in the mail from the Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn. Retired from the game since 1933, the aging Faber was was 80 years old when the mailman beckoned.

The four-time 20-game winner won 254 career games, all with the Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964.

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In this letter to Hall of Fame outfielder Max Carey, Kuhn acknowledges Carey’s attendance to the event. Kuhn writes that he’s delighted Carey will attend and that the commissioner will reserve two tickets to the 1969 All Star game.

Carey led the NL in stolen bases ten times in his 20-year career. He held the Senior Circuit’s career mark for thefts until Lou Brock broke it in 1974.

A .285 career hitter with 2,665 hits, Carey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1961.

Kuhn’s signature is found at the bottom of the letter.

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Baseball’s first All Star Game was held in Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1933. What was thought to be a one-time event became a yearly celebration of the game’s great players.

In 1983 the game returned to Comiskey for its 50th anniversary.

Shown here is the invitation to the gala sent to Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt. By then the 237-game winner and three-time World Series champ was 84 years old by then.

Also signed by White Sox owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, the letter states in part, “We want you to be a part of the…’Nite of Stars’ All Star gala party…and the Commissioner’s Luncheon on July 6.”

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The 1974 season was special for Al Kaline. Playing his final big league season he made the last of his 18 All Star teams and recorded his 3,000th hit.

Coming into the year Mr. Tiger was 139 hits shy of the milestone safety. It felt like a tall task for Kaline who hadn’t recorded that many hits in any of the previous six seasons. Indeed it had been 13 years since Motown’s main man last played in as many as 150 games.

This year was different for Kaline. A year after the designated hitter rule was enacted in the AL, Kaline found his niche. Without needing a glove, Kaline played only as a DH and pinch hitter.

Shown here is a letter from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn dated August 1, 1974. At the start of that day Kaline was 50 hits away from the magical milestone. Kuhn replies to an inquiry from a fan regarding the legitimacy of Kaline joining the 3,000-hit club with the aid of the new designated hitter position.

“The circumstances today in the American League are different,” Kuhn writes. “This becomes a matter of judgement whether the difference is enough to warrant special treatment. In this instance, I would not think so and Kaline’s achievement, if he makes it, would be without an asterisk.”

Kaline did indeed make it to 3,000. Playing in 147 contests – his most since 1961 – Kaline tallied his 3,000th hit on September 24th. By season’s end the lifetime Motown man had 146 hits on the year – all coming as the team’s designated hitter.

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During Bowie Kuhn’s time as baseball’s chief, the game enjoyed unprecedented attendance gains. Overall it increased from 23 million the year before he took over to 45.5 million in 1983 the year before he left the game.

Kuhn left office and was succeeded by Peter Ueberroth. In retirement the former commissioner practiced law and served on various boards of organizations.

In this letter the game’s second commissioner Happy Chandler writes to Kuhn’s mother. Chandler thanks her for remembering his 88th birthday.

Dated July 18, 1986 the letter reads in part, “I know how proud you are of Bowie. He was the outstanding Baseball Commissioner of all time.”

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The Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes men who left an everlasting impression on the game. In addition to players, umpires, and general managers, four commissioners have earned induction.

Baseball’s first commissioner was Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Brought in to fortify the integrity of the game after the 1919 White Sox scandal, Landis ruled with an iron fist from 1921-1944. Two weeks after his death on November 25, 1944, Landis was voted into Cooperstown by a special committee. In Landis’ absence his successor Happy Chandler accepted the honor on his behalf.

From 1945-1952 Chandler was baseball’s chief. He oversaw the racial integration of the sport. The Veterans Committee voted gave Chandler baseball’s highest honor when he was inducted in 1982.

Longtime National League President Ford Frick took baseball’s reins in 1952. As NL boss he helped found the Hall of Fame. In MLB’s driver’s seat, he oversaw expansion from 8 teams in each league to ten. Frick got his Cooperstown plaque in 1970.

The fourth commissioner of the game was William “Spike” Eckert, a lieutenant general in the Air Force. Virtually unknown to the public, Eckert was tabbed with the nickname “The Unknown Soldier”. His relative anonymity continues today.

Baseball’s youngest commissioner remains Bowie Kuhn who was named to the position at 42 years of age. A lawyer by trade, Kuhn served as a counsel to Major League Baseball for nearly 20 years prior to his election as commissioner.

During a tumultuous rule that lasted from 1969-1984, Kuhn introduced night baseball to the World Series, and helped usher former Negro League players into the Hall of Fame. Near the end of his time in baseball he helped clean up baseball’s cocaine problem. Kuhn was succeeded by former president of the United States Olympic Committee, Peter Ueberroth.

In this letter baseball’s second commissioner Happy Chandler writes to Kuhn.

“A letter from Commissioner Ueberroth informs me that he is writing the members of the Hall of Fame Committee asking that they elect you to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“This is the one ambition I have left for Baseball.

“Forty years have passed since I stood on the steps of Cooperstown…and accepted the plaque for Judge Landis. He was not elected a member of the Hall of Fame until after his death, which I thought was a tragedy.

“I do not want this to happen to you.”

Chandler lived to the ripe old age 92 before passing away in 1991. Kuhn passed away in 2007 and was inducted the following year.