Oxford News

HAMILTON — A Cincinnati Reds buff will provide a little history lesson about baseball's first commissioner — who had local ties — and how he restored integrity to the game.

Greg Rhodes will speak at noon Oct. 20, at Miami Hamilton Downtown as part of the series of fall events sponsored by the Butler County Historical Society.

Rhodes' topic will be Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a Hamilton native who was named professional baseball's first commissioner following the infamous 1919 World Series. In that series, the Reds beat the Chicago White Sox, but Sox players were federally prosecuted for throwing the series. The movie "Eight Men Out" is based on those events.

Landis was a federal judge at the time and his appointment as commissioner was aimed at bringing integrity back to the game, said Mike Riesenberg, BCHS executive director.

The event, scheduled two days before the start of the 2008 World Series, is one of many that the BCHS is sponsoring throughout the county, Riesenberg said.

"We're trying to put a new face on our programs by inviting speakers who are experts in their fields and making topics more interesting to residents," Riesenberg said.

Rhodes has written several books about the Reds and baseball, and was the executive director for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame when it opened in 2004.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.