Craig Landis (born December 29, 1958) is an American sports agent and a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. As an agent, he specializes in baseball represents

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

outfielder Mike Trout.

Career

Athlete

An All-American in both football and baseball at

Vintage High School Vintage High School is a public, comprehensive high school with a student body count of over 1800. It is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Napa Valley Unified School District. The other comprehensive high schools are Napa High Scho ...

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

, Landis was drafted 10th overall by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

in the first round of the 1977 MLB Draft. He went on to play six seasons of minor league baseball, reaching as high as Triple-A. After retiring from baseball, Landis accepted a football scholarship to Stanford, where he played defensive back and special teams.

Agent

Landis earned degrees in economics, and worked on Wall Street before returning to the sports world in 1991, when a friend asked him to represent a high school player in the MLB Draft. He went on to represent players including

Paul Konerko Paul Henry Konerko (; born March 5, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman from 1997 to 2014, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox, where he was a si ...

, J.J. Hardy, J.J. Putz,

Randy Winn Dwight Randolph Winn (born June 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily as an outfielder. Winn was a switch hitter, and threw right-handed. He mad ...

and

Aaron Rowand Aaron Ryan Rowand (born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball center fielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and the San Francisco Giants and won two World Series ch ...

. , Mike Trout is his only client. In 2013, Landis expressed his frustration when the Angels renewed Trout's contract for just $510,000 in the wake of his

AL Rookie of the Year In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...

and MVP runner-up season. Landis said: "Because Mike has less than three years of major league service and has not yet reached arbitration, the Angels have the right under the ollective bargaining agreementto unilaterally impose a salary upon Mike, and they chose to do that today...I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time. In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a 'fair' contract, and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process." Prior to the 2014 season, Landis negotiated a six-year, $144.5 million contract for Trout with the Angels. The deal angered some around baseball who felt that Trout could have signed for more money and worried his contract would suppress the market for players in the future. Landis said, "What Mike was trying to accomplish was some financial security, but also keeping the door open for whatever may happen down the road."

Personal life

Landis is the son of

Jim Landis James Henry Landis (March 9, 1934 – October 7, 2017) was an American professional baseball player. Landis played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder on six teams from 1957 through 1967. While playing eight seasons for the Chicago ...

, a former All-Star with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and a five-time

Gold Glove The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

winner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landis, Craig American sports agents Living people 1958 births Great Falls Giants players Cedar Rapids Giants players Shreveport Captains players Phoenix Giants players Richmond Braves players Savannah Braves players Baseball players from California Stanford Cardinal football players