Craig Landis (born December 29, 1958) is an American

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

and a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. As an agent, he specializes in baseball and represents

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

outfielder

Mike Trout Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). Trout is an 11-time Major League Baseball All-Star Game, All-Star, three-time American League (A ...

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 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 Schoo ...

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

, Landis was drafted 10th overall by the

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

in the first round of the

1977 MLB Draft The 1977 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1977 MLB season. The draft saw the Chicago White Sox select Harold Baines first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1977 Major League Baseb ...

. He went on to play six seasons of

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, reaching as high as Triple-A. After retiring from baseball, Landis accepted a football scholarship to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, where he played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

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 s ...

J.J. Hardy James Jerry Hardy (born August 19, 1982) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, and Baltimore Orioles. Hardy attended Sabino High School in Tan ...

, J.J. Putz,

Randy Winn Dwight Randolph Winn (born June 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player and is currently the vice president of player development for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played all or parts of 13 seas ...

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 cham ...

. , 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 Chica ...

, 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

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. It is awarded at each fieldin ...

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 Napa County, California Stanford Cardinal football players Baseball players from Richmond, California Sportspeople from Napa, California Players of American football from Napa County, California 20th-century American sportsmen