Batter up!

FOUL BALL!

Coco Crisp was the Baseball Player.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the Federal Judge.

Coco Crisp

Covelli Loyce “Coco” Crisp is not the first in his family to share a name with a cereal brand. His father, a boxer, had the name Sugar Crisp. Some joke about Coco’s son growing up to participate in professional sports and be called Cookie Crisp. But regardless of any breakfast food associations, Crisp has been called an overachiever. One of Crisp’s high school coaches remembers him as very motivated and very positive. “He is a walking, talking epitome of hard work and superior attitude,” said one former coach. On the field, his work pays off. He won a World Series in 2007 with the Boston Red Sox, and consistently ranks as a league leader in stolen bases. Perhaps the latter fact is not very surprising, considering that Crisp is known for his speed. He thinks baseball video games have him as a slower player than he truly is, however. He has said the following about such simulations: “They go by how many stolen bases you have and that’s not necessarily how fast you are. They should go off of clocking you down to first base. They’ve got other guys running 99 and I’m running 80 something. I was like this is outrageous! So I started creating myself.” Crisp then said he proceeded to set his power, speed, and arm at the maximum level—making him the best player in the game.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was named after the location of the Civil War battle that wounded his father, Dr. Abraham Landis. Although his father prioritized education, young Kenesaw disliked formal schooling. He consequently left school at age 14 without consulting anyone. Landis learned the Pitman shorthand system and landed a job in the county stenographer’s office, where he would first be exposed to the legal system. He later worked on the Republican presidential campaign. Based on his political and stenographer experience, Landis decided on becoming a lawyer. Since he lived during the years before the formalization of legal education, he was able to register as an attorney on his 21st birthday without having ever received a formal law education or college degree. Still, Landis realized the value a law school degree would have towards his advancement in the legal profession. Thus, he enrolled in the Cincinnati YMCA Law School. A year later, he moved to Chicago and completed his law degree at Union College of Law (now the Northwestern University School of Law). Landis went on to serve in the Cleveland administration. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Landis as a district judge for the Northern District of Illinois, where he would rule in early antitrust cases involving railroad corruption and rebates. In 1915, Landis presided over the antitrust lawsuit brought by the upstart Federal League against the National League and American League, which combined to form Organized Baseball (now known as Major League Baseball). Landis delayed the case, which ended in settlement. But, his involvement with baseball did not end there, as the baseball owners later appointed him the first commissioner of baseball. Eventually, Landis resigned from the federal bench and continued to preside over baseball. As commissioner, Landis made a decision many would remember: he banned Shoeless Jackson and seven other members of the Chicago White Sox from professional baseball for their involvement in the 1919 “Black Sox scandal.”

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Coco Crisp

Covelli Loyce “Coco” Crisp is not the first in his family to share a name with a cereal brand. His father, a boxer, had the name Sugar Crisp. Some joke about Coco’s son growing up to participate in professional sports and be called Cookie Crisp. But regardless of any breakfast food associations, Crisp has been called an overachiever. One of Crisp’s high school coaches remembers him as very motivated and very positive. “He is a walking, talking epitome of hard work and superior attitude,” said one former coach. On the field, his work pays off. He won a World Series in 2007 with the Boston Red Sox, and consistently ranks as a league leader in stolen bases. Perhaps the latter fact is not very surprising, considering that Crisp is known for his speed. He thinks baseball video games have him as a slower player than he truly is, however. He has said the following about such simulations: “They go by how many stolen bases you have and that’s not necessarily how fast you are. They should go off of clocking you down to first base. They’ve got other guys running 99 and I’m running 80 something. I was like this is outrageous! So I started creating myself.” Crisp then said he proceeded to set his power, speed, and arm at the maximum level—making him the best player in the game.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was named after the location of the Civil War battle that wounded his father, Dr. Abraham Landis. Although his father prioritized education, young Kenesaw disliked formal schooling. He consequently left school at age 14 without consulting anyone. Landis learned the Pitman shorthand system and landed a job in the county stenographer’s office, where he would first be exposed to the legal system. He later worked on the Republican presidential campaign. Based on his political and stenographer experience, Landis decided on becoming a lawyer. Since he lived during the years before the formalization of legal education, he was able to register as an attorney on his 21st birthday without having ever received a formal law education or college degree. Still, Landis realized the value a law school degree would have towards his advancement in the legal profession. Thus, he enrolled in the Cincinnati YMCA Law School. A year later, he moved to Chicago and completed his law degree at Union College of Law (now the Northwestern University School of Law). Landis went on to serve in the Cleveland administration. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Landis as a district judge for the Northern District of Illinois, where he would rule in early antitrust cases involving railroad corruption and rebates. In 1915, Landis presided over the antitrust lawsuit brought by the upstart Federal League against the National League and American League, which combined to form Organized Baseball (now known as Major League Baseball). Landis delayed the case, which ended in settlement. But, his involvement with baseball did not end there, as the baseball owners later appointed him the first commissioner of baseball. Eventually, Landis resigned from the federal bench and continued to preside over baseball. As commissioner, Landis made a decision many would remember: he banned Shoeless Jackson and seven other members of the Chicago White Sox from professional baseball for their involvement in the 1919 “Black Sox scandal.”

BACK TO GAMES AND THEORY