Scott Lucas, former Senate Majority Leader from Illinois, held the seat currently occupied by Barack Obama. Prior to entering politics, he played baseball in the semipro 3-I League. His love for the game never waned. In office during WWII, he argued on the Senate floor that baseball was "absolutely essential" to the war effort. "My sincere hope," he said about baseball, "is that nothing will be done by any agency of the government which will in any way disturb the continuation of this great American institution during the emergency."