Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks: The Life and Times of Happy Chandler: An Autobiography

Now 90, the former Kentucky governor and senator is probably best known outside his home state as the commissioner of baseball who served for six years after succeeding Kenesaw M. Landis. It was during his tenure that the national pastime was racially integrated, a policy change in which Chandler was perhaps even more instrumental than Branch Rickey. But primarily because he supported Rickey, Chandler alienated some owners, and they voted him out, according to the authors. That is only one incident in an exceptionally full and busy life, chronicled here with the aid of the former editor of the Kentucky Post. Most arresting is the fact that, although a Democrat, Chandler had little liking for Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman or Alben Barkley, three of his party's heroes. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)