Baseball writers vote to remove Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ name from MVP award – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Baseball Writers’ Association of America members voted overwhelmingly this week to remove the name of ex-commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis from the Most Valuable Player awards given annually in the American and National leagues.

Landis, hired in 1920 as the first commissioner of baseball in order to root out a prevalent gambling problem that permeated the game, is inextricably linked to racial injustice and inequality in baseball as a noted figure who slowed the progress of minority players for decades.

Landis’ legacy is forever joined to issues of “documented racism” official MLB historian John Thorn told USA Today in July. During Landis’ 25-year tenure as commissioner, no Black players reached the major leagues. It was not until two years after Landis’ death that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.

Many former MVP award winners have spoken out in recent months saying they would favor the BBWAA re-naming the award and removing Landis’ name, including Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Mike Schmidt, who told USA Today he would gladly remove Landis’ name from his MVP plaques in order to expose the injustice of that era.

Per an email from BBWAA president, Paul Sullivan, 313 votes were cast by members and 89 percent returned in favor of removing Landis’ name. The award will be handed out without a namesake in 2020. The hope is to have conversations at a later date and debate a possible replacement name for future award winners.

A discussion as to whether or not the association will remove the name of J.G. Taylor Spink from the Hall of Fame award voted annually for a baseball writer will be tabled until a later date.

Spink, longtime publisher of The Sporting News, like Landis, had a noted legacy of promoting racial inequality and injustice.