After succeeding the larger-than-life Kenesaw Mountain Landis as commissioner in 1945, Albert "Happy" Chandler guided baseball through six turbulent years. A former U.S. senator and governor of Kentucky, the honest Chandler maintained the commissioner's office as a position of authority. He took swift action against players who left to play in the Mexican League and presided over the game when Brooklyn Dodgers’ president Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson in 1945 and integrated Major League baseball in 1947.