In 1920 Navin played a key role in the creation of the office of Commissioner of Baseball and the appointment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first Commissioner. The American League owners had become divided into two factions. One faction, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees, sought to remove Ban Johnson as the league's president. The other faction, the Tigers, Indians, Athletics, Browns, and Senators, known as the "Loyal Five", supported Johnson. When the Black Sox Scandal broke after the 1920 season, the White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees threatened to pull out of the American League and join a new 12-team National League. The enlarged league would include a new team in Detroit unrelated to the Tigers — an obvious attempt to push out Navin, a longtime Johnson loyalist. However, Navin was in no mood for another war and persuaded the other five clubs to agree to appoint a new National Commission of non-baseball men. Judge Landis was tapped as chairman, but would only accept an appointment as sole commissioner, with nearly unlimited power over the game. The owners, desperate to fight the perception that baseball was crooked, readily agreed. Navin developed a very close relationship with Landis, and Landis reportedly called Navin as many as 20 times a day for advice.