Rank Them: Commissioners of Major League Baseball
tmc_6882
Mountain Landis
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...aw_Mountain.stm
Landis was granted absolute power over the game as commissioner in
1920 after the Black Sox scandal had tainted the game. He exercised
his authority tyrannically until his death in 1944, with no recourse
from his decisions available or public criticism of them permitted.
Although he was harsh and narrow-minded, and often arbitrary and
inconsistent, he persuaded most Americans that the integrity of the
national pastime had been restored.
Landis was a judge in an Illinois federal district court when he came
to the attention of baseball's establishment during the Federal
League's antitrust suit, which was heard in his court. A Federal
League victory would have destroyed baseball's unique monopoly status,
and Landis won the owners' gratitude by stalling his decision until
the Feds had collapsed and their suit was withdrawn. The three-man
National Commission, which had ruled baseball since 1903 under the
leadership of Ban Johnson, had been weakened by owner disputes and
grievances, and collapsed in the aftermath of the Series scandal.
Judge Landis was the first and only choice for commissioner.
Named after a Civil War battle, young Kenesaw was meagerly educated
and minimally trained for the law. Still, his craggy face, shock of
white hair, and flamboyant style were captivating. In his first years
as commissioner he banished 15 players, including the eight Black Sox,
and at one time had 53 players ineligible. Though he did not treat his
victims equally or, in some cases, fairly, the numerous bribe offers,
thrown games, and betting plots that arose showed baseball's
corruption to be far deeper than once believed, and his no-mercy
stance was accepted, if not applauded.
Landis was opposed to the development of farm systems and made free
agents of numerous players he decreed to have been "covered up" in the
minor leagues, but he was unable to eradicate the practice, which
preserved many of the faltering leagues. He loved the World Series,
conducted it personally, and was constantly photographed at games with
his chin on the railing of a front row box. He was also a strong
supporter of both the Hall of Fame and the All-Star Game, pushing hard
to continue the mid-summer exhibitions during WWII. Landis was
inducted to the Hall of Fame himself in 1939, and no commissioner
since has enjoyed such power. (ADS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Chandler
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...ndler_Happy.stm
Chandler was the second Commissioner, succeeding the legendary Judge
Landis. He was elected in 1945, after having served as Governor of
Kentucky for four years and U.S. Senator for six. He was perceived as
a players' Commissioner, and he cautioned owners to be less stubborn
to avoid later confrontations. His advice was ignored.
Despite the negative feelings of most club owners, he supported the
entry of Jackie Robinson into the major leagues. When some players
jumped to the Mexican League in 1946, he suspended them for five years
(but gave them blanket amnesty in 1949). He suspended Dodgers manager
Leo Durocher for one year for a series of actions detrimental to
baseball's image, including consorting with gamblers. He was the first
to put six umpires on the field for the World Series.
Having made some decisions that riled several owners, he was fired
after one term, receiving only nine of the twelve votes necessary to
continue. When he left, his reputation for being good-humored,
iron-willed, and honest remained intact. He had put the players'
pension fund on a sound footing, averted threats to the reserve
clause, and helped open the ML door for black players. In 1982 he was
named to the Hall of Fame. (NLM)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ford Frick
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base.../Frick_Ford.stm
It was fitting that the ultimate tribute to Ford Frick was his
election to the Hall of Fame. He was president of the National League
when the shrine was proposed, and he gave the idea his fullest
support.
Frick began his career as a midwestern sports writer and moved to New
York with the Hearst papers. He pioneered the nightly radio sports
report, giving scores and news. In 1934 he became NL public relations
director and succeeded the ailing William Heydler as NL president the
next year. In 1951 he replaced Happy Chandler as Commissioner as the
owners sought a less stubbornly independent figure at the helm than
Chandler or the untameable Judge Landis. Much-derided for his
controversial decision to attach an asterisk to Roger Maris's record
61 HR in the new 162-game season in 1961 (Frick had been Babe Ruth's
ghostwriter), he saw his resourceful administration and gentle
guidance of the owners away from their instinct for self-destruction
overshadowed by the asterisk issue. In Frick's wake have come General
Eckert, Bowie Kuhn, and Peter Ueberroth, and a trend toward baseball
as a billion-dollar business perhaps too willing to shed its old
values, values the traditionalist Frick revered. (JK)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William Eckert
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...ert_William.stm
Eckert was a retired Air Force general, a supply officer who
specialized in negotiating defense contracts. When he was elected
commissioner in 1965, he knew nothing about baseball's inner workings
and had not attended a game in ten years. At the time every baseball
man nominated had too many enemies to gain enough votes. Eckert was
quiet, bright, honest, and willing, but he was in a situation for
which he had neither preparation nor aptitude. Lee McPhail was
appointed administrator to help him, but Eckert became a symbol of
executive futility. He incurred the public's ire by refusing to cancel
games after the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther
King and the owners' disdain because he refused to deal forcefully
with substantive business issues. Anticipating a players' strike and
having no confidence in Eckert's ability to handle the situation, the
owners voted him out in early 1969 although he still had three years
on his contract. (NLM)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowie Kuhn
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base.../Kuhn_Bowie.stm
As baseball's Commissioner from 1969-1984, Kuhn presided over the
sport's period of greatest affluence but also, paradoxically, one of
its most strife-ridden eras. With the major leagues threatened by a
player's strike before the 1969 season and with the office of the
Commissioner vacant after the firing of General Eckert in December
1968, the owners hired Kuhn, a lawyer for the National League and a
favorite of Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley. In the style that he would
use throughout his three terms, Kuhn verbally placated the owners and
then gave in to all the Players Association demands. He dealt with the
controversial Curt Flood case at the end of the year, denying Flood's
request to overturn the reserve clause and, more specifically, allow
Flood to circumvent a trade that had sent him from the contending
Cardinals to the cellar-dwelling Phillies.
Kuhn went on to withstand a Spring Training strike in 1972 that cut
into the heart of the season, and he forced the owners to abandon a
pre-season lockout in 1976 following a pro-player decision by an
independent arbitrator in the Messersmith-McNally challenge to the
reserve clause. Kuhn had advised against the use of an arbitrator in
the case, his law background perhaps leading him to realize what shaky
ground the owners were on. Kuhn forestalled a player strike in 1980,
but was unable to prevent the mid-season strike of 1981, when the
owners stood firm in an ultimately unsuccessful rear-guard action
against free agency.
Despite his frequent, albeit forced, accomodations of player demands,
Kuhn was perceived as a tool of the owners and as overmatched by the
head of the Players Association, Marvin Miller. Kuhn regularly chided
the players for their demands, called them overpaid, and preached of
the potential evils of free agency, all stances pleasing to his
employers, the owners. But Kuhn's officious, pompous manner gained him
enemies beyond the ranks of the players. His handling of an
investigation of Cubs manager Leo Durocher ended in personal, although
largely private, embarrassment. Writer Red Smith excoriated Kuhn in
many columns, producing such bon mots during the 1981 strike as "this
strike wouldn't have happened if Bowie Kuhn were alive today" and "an
empty car pulled up and Bowie Kuhn got out." Kuhn also feuded with A's
owner Charlie Finley, who referred to Kuhn as a "village idiot" and
then apologized for the offense to village idiots. Kuhn vetoed some of
Finley's innovations, and in 1973 he prevented Finley from
vindictively placing second baseman Mike Andrews on the DL during the
World Series following a costly error. Their biggest clash came when
Kuhn voided the sales, and lopsided trades involving cash, of A's
stars Vida Blue, Joe Rudi, and others. The players were going to leave
Oakland as free agents to escape Finley's tyrannical ownership, and
Finley was trying to get some value for them. Many owners in the past
had sold off their stars; Connie Mack, who had guided the A's for a
half-century, was famous for breaking up his great teams. But Kuhn
ruled that Finley's deals were not "in the best interests of
baseball." Kuhn also suspended Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for a
year after he was convicted of perjury and making illegal
contributions to the election campaign of Richard Nixon, and suspended
Braves owner Ted Turner for tampering.
Kuhn may ultimately be remembered for the spectacular growth of
baseball in the 1970s and 1980s, a period that began with expansion in
1969, the same year Kuhn became Commissioner. Attendance in 1980 was
more than triple what it had been in 1968, and television revenue was
up more than $ 10 million dollars in the same period. But the
eagerness of baseball to bow to the demands of network TV resulted in
concessions criticized by purists. The most notable of these
concessions was night baseball during the World Series. The first such
game, in 1971, found Kuhn attending bareheaded and coatless despite
the cold weather, with cameras frequently focusing on him in an
attempt to deny the effects of the temperature. (WOR)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Ueberroth
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...rroth_Peter.stm
Ueberroth was Commissioner of Baseball from after the 1984 season
until before the 1989 season. The millionaire California travel agent
became a public figure for his leadership organizing the 1984
Olympics, which turned a $215 million-dollar profit by exploiting
corporate sponsorships and media contracts. As Commissioner of
Baseball, he successfully increased owners' revenues through his
television contract negotiations and marketing schemes that encouraged
big-dollar promotional support from large corporations. The blot on
Ueberroth's tenure was the owners' proven collusion against free
agency by players. This highly visible restraint of trade left the
owners with substantial contingent liabilities which survived
Ueberroth's departure. Until final damages are awarded, the profit
picture for his reign is incomplete.
Commissioner Ueberroth came down heavily on players who used cocaine,
largely on the grounds that they were being poor role models. Several
big names, including Dwight Gooden and Lonnie Smith, served
drug-related suspensions while Ueberroth was in office. In 1989,
Ueberroth turned over the Commissioner's reins to former NL president
A. Bartlett Giamatti. (TF/MS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bart Giamatti & Fay Vincent
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...amatti_Bart.stm
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...Vincent_Fay.stm
Vincent, the deputy commissioner under his friend Bart Giamatti,
replaced Giamatti as Commissioner in September 1989 after Giamatti's
death. Vincent was previously a securities lawyer who ran Columbia
Picture Industries for nearly ten years. (SH)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» September 13, 1989: Fay Vincent is elected baseball's 8th
commissioner, succeeding the late Bart Giamatti, whom he served as
deputy commissioner.
» July 30, 1990: In a surprisingly harsh ruling, Commissioner Fay
Vincent orders Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to resign as the
club's general partner by August 20th and bans him from day-to-day
operation of the team for life. The ruling is a result of
Steinbrenner's $40,000 payment to confessed gambler Howie Spira for
damaging information about since-traded Yankee star Dave Winfield.
» March 12, 1991: Commissioner Fay Vincent orders a ban on the use of
smokeless tobacco in the Class A Appalachian and Northwest leagues and
the rookie Pioneer and Gulf Coast leagues.
» April 10, 1991: Sixty-eight-year-old Minnie Minoso is denied a
chance to appear in a professional game in his 6th consecutive decade
by baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent. Minoso had been scheduled to
suit up for the independent Miami Miracle of the Class A Florida State
League in their April 13 game against the Ft. Lauderdale Yankees.
Vincent refuses to allow Minoso to sign a contract, even for a single
night.
» April 26, 1991: Roger Clemens' appeal of the 5-game suspension and
$10,000 fine levied against him for his confrontation with umpire Jim
Evans and threat to "get" umpire Terry Cooney during the 1990 American
League playoffs is denied by commissioner Fay Vincent.
» April 24, 1992: Former Yankees vice president Leonard Kleinman drops
his $30 million lawsuit against baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent. The
suit had been one of the obstacles standing in the way of George
Steinbrenner's reinstatement with the Yankees.
» June 24, 1992: Yankees P Steve Howe is permanently banned from
baseball by Commissioner Fay Vincent after having pled guilty to a
misdemeanor charge of attempting to purchase a gram of cocaine. It is
Howe's 7th ban from the game, as he becomes the 1st player ever
permanently banned from baseball because of drugs.
» July 6, 1992: Commissioner Fay Vincent orders realignment of the
National League for the 1993 season, forcing the Cubs and Cardinals
into the Western Division.
» July 24, 1992: Commissioner Fay Vincent announces that George
Steinbrenner can resume active control of the Yankees on March 1,
1993.
» September 3, 1992: Baseball owners vote 18–9, with one abstention,
calling for the resignation of Commissioner Fay Vincent.
» September 7, 1992: Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent resigns three
days after failing to receive a vote of confidence by the owners at a
meeting in Rosemont, Illinois.
» September 24, 1992: Baseball's executive council rescinds the
National League realignment announced by Fay Vincent earlier this
year. Vincent has since resigned from his post.
» July 2, 1999: Umpire Tom Hallion is suspended for three games for
his actions during an argument with Colorado catcher Jeff Reed and
pitching coach Milt May on June 26th. The dispute began when Rockies
pitcher Mike DeJean, while walking to his dugout complained to third
base umpire Terry Tata about a check-swing call, and home plate ump
Hallion, told DeJean to get in the dugout. Officials couldn't recall
another suspension of an umpire for an on-field dispute. In 1990,
National League president Bill White was prepared to suspend umpire
Joe West for slamming Philadelphia pitcher Dennis Cook to the field,
but commissioner Fay Vincent intervened and no discipline was imposed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bud Selig
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/base...S/Selig_Bud.stm
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» April 1, 1970: The Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, headed by Bud
Selig, purchases the Seattle Pilots for $10,800,000. Although
negotiations were conducted over a period of months, it was not until
March 13 when a federal bankruptcy referee declared the Pilots
bankrupt. Brewers tickets go on sale tomorrow.
» September 9, 1992: Milwaukee owner Bud Selig is chosen as chairman
of the major league's executive council, effectively becoming the
interim baseball commissioner. Tomorrow he is appointed acting
commissioner.
» January 19, 1994: Major league owners amend the major league
agreement, giving complete power to the commissioner on labor
negotiations. Bud Selig will continue to act as interim commissioner.
» September 2, 1994: According to acting commissioner Bud Selig,
September 9th is the tentative deadline for canceling the rest of the
season is no agreement is reached between the owners and players.
» September 14, 1994: The remainder of the baseball season is canceled
by acting commissioner Bud Selig after 34 days of the players' strike.
There will be no World Series for the 1st time since 1904.
» October 14, 1994: Bud Selig and Donald Fehr meet with President
Clinton at the White House in an effort to reach an agreement
concerning the strike.
» January 13, 1995: Use of replacement players for spring training and
regular season games is okayed by baseball's executive council. Acting
commissioner Bud Selig announces, "We are committed to playing the
1995 season and will do so with the best players willing to play."
» May 7, 1996: In another announcement out of Cincinnati, Marge Schott
issues an apology for her laudatory comments about Adolph Hitler made
last Sunday. Acting commissioner Bud Selig says, "we will continue to
monitor the situation."
» November 11, 1996: Owner Bud Selig meets with Don Fehr, the players'
labor leader, in a futile attempt to convince Fehr to accept the
owners' demands. With the deadline for an agreement at midnight on the
14th, there is virtually no hope that the two sides will agree. If the
two sides reach the deadline without an agreement, the interleague
schedule for next year will be wiped out, and a traditional schedule
followed.
» November 5, 1997: In what Bud Selig says is Phase one of a
realignment of the major leagues, his Milwaukee Brewers move from the
American League to the National League.
» June 29, 1998: Bud Selig calls a special session of the owners for
July 9th in Chicago.
» July 9, 1998: Bud Selig is elected as the 9th Commissioner of
Baseball by a vote of club owners.
» March 31, 1999: Commissioner Bud Selig confirms that discussions are
underway which could lead to advertising space being sold on the
sleeves of players uniforms.
» June 28, 1999: Hack Wilson ups his RBI total for the 1930 season to
191. 69 years after the season, an RBI is added by the commissioner's
office, which also gives Babe Ruth six additional walks, raising his
career-record total to 2,062. "There is no doubt that Hack Wilson's
RBI total should be 191," commissioner Bud Selig said. "I am sensitive
to the historical significance that accompanies the correction of such
a prestigious record, especially after so many years have passed, but
it is important to get it right." The missing RBI came from the 2nd
game of a doubleheader between Wilson's Chicago Cubs and the
Cincinnati Reds on July 28, 1930 where Charlie Grimm was credited with
two RBIs in the game and Wilson with none. Ruth's walks total is now
2,062. Ted Williams is second, trailing by 43, and Rickey Henderson of
the New York Mets is third, 134 behind Ruth.
» August 2, 1999: Commissioner Bud Selig announces that Darryl
Strawberry's reinstatement has been moved up from August 11th to
August 4th.
» August 23, 1999: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announces that Pete
Rose will be invited to the World Series if he is elected to the
All-Century Team. Rose has been banned from baseball since 1989.
» September 15, 1999: Baseball owners vote to merge the administrative
operations of the American and National leagues. National League
President Leonard Coleman, concluding his job had become irrelevant,
announces his resignation effective after the World Series. He will
become a senior adviser to Commissioner Bud Selig.
» December 21, 1999: The Dodgers are fined $50,000 and banned from
scouting any Dominican Republic players for one year as a penalty for
having signed 3B Adrian Beltre as a 15-year-old. Beltre is not given
his free agency, according to Commissioner Bud Selig, because he
participated in the scheme, and because the claim for free agency was
made too late. The players' association is expected to file a
grievance in the matter.
» January 6, 2000: Major league baseball officials order Atlanta
Braves P John Rocker is to undergo psychological testing following
derogatory remarks he made in an interview with Sports Illustrated
magazine. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig says he will listen to what
the doctors say before deciding what punishment—if any—will be handed
down to the pitcher.
» January 6, 2000: Gene Budig resigns as American League president and
is appointed a senior adviser to baseball commissioner Bud Selig. The
American and National leagues will be disbanded as legal entities
later this month, with their functions consolidated in the
commissioner's office.
» January 19, 2000: Major league baseball owners vote to approve the
$320 million sale of the Indians to Larry Dolan and his family trusts.
They also vote to give Commissioner Bud Selig power "without
limitation" to ensure "there is an appropriate level of long-term
competitive balance among the clubs." He can override all of
baseball's rules, and even attempt to impose a salary cap if he thinks
it necessary to reach an agreement with the players following the 2001
season.
» January 20, 2000: Baseball owners vote to give all their internet
rights to the commissioner's office. Bud Selig is expected to parcel
out monies in 30 equal amounts.
» January 31, 2000: Braves reliever John Rocker is suspended from
baseball until May 1st by Commissioner Bud Selig for his racial and
ethnic remarks in an article published in Sports Illustrated last
month. He's also fined an undisclosed amount and ordered to undergo
sensitivity training.
» February 28, 2000: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announces the
Yankees OF Darryl Strawberry is suspended for one year for having
tested positive for cocaine last month. It is Strawberry's 3rd
cocaine-related suspension.
» October 28, 2001: Commissioner Bud Selig says it is possible that
two major league teams could be eliminated by the start of next
season. The Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins, and
Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the teams mentioned as most likely to be
eliminated.
» November 14, 2001: After Marvin Miller, former head of the players
union, calls on Bud Selig to resign because of a conflict of interest
with the Twins contraction and his ownership, the Commissioner reacts
angrily. "St. Louis is closer to Minneapolis than Milwaukee is,"
misstates Selig in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Are the Red Sox
going to benefit if Montreal is contracted? No. I don't think the
Brewers will gain either. Its so outrageous and not worthy of
comment," he comments.
» January 9, 2002: Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan says Bud Selig
should resign because he appeared to violate major league rules in a
1995 loan from a company controlled by the owner of the Minnesota
Twins. Conyers, The House Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat says
the loan created an "irreparable conflict of interest" for Selig in
his plan to fold two franchises, a proposal that most likely would
include the Twins." Selig rejects the suggestion saying, "The
suggestions made in your letter are wholly unacceptable."
» January 10, 2002: Bud Selig asks the players to accept a luxury tax
that would slow the increase of salaries. He also proposes that teams
vastly increase the amount of local revenue they share.
» February 5, 2002: Commissioner Bud Selig announces that major league
baseball has postponed plans for contraction until 2003.
» March 12, 2002: Baseball czar Bud Selig announced he's going to
start enforcing the 60–40 rule, which says teams can't have an
assets/debts ratio below that level. According to Doug Pappas, an
expert on baseball finances, "At best, this is one more example of
Bud's arbitrary and selective enforcement of MLB's rules,
retroactively punishing owners who've spent more on players than Bud
would like. At worst, it's yet another grotesque case of Selig, he of
the permanent conflict of interest, twisting the rules for his own
benefit. In 1995, his Milwaukee Brewers were so far in debt they
couldn't borrow money to contribute to the construction of their new
park. Forbes estimated that as of the 1997 season, the Brewers' debt
had risen to an incredible 97% of franchise value. Selig said nothing
about the 60/40 rule. But the Brewers' new park opened in 2001. The
first-year attendance spike sent club revenues to a record $113
million. Isn't it amazing how the Commissioner suddenly decided to
enforce the rule just when his own club could finally meet the
standard?"
» June 5, 2002: Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announces that the
sport will contract by at least two teams before the 2003 season.
» June 7, 2002: In a Northern League (Independent) game between the
visiting Gary Southshore RailCats at Midway Stadium in St. Paul,
Saints owner Mike Veeck gives away seat cushions that feature the
likeness of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig on one side and that of Players
Association Executive Director Don Fehr on the other. During the
seventh-inning stretch, an informal poll shows that about 90 percent
of the fans on the cushions are sitting on Bud.
» July 9, 2002: In a controversial finish, the All–Star Game ends in a
7–7 tie after 11 innings as both the National and American leagues run
out of pitchers. Both managers discuss it with commissioner Bud Selig,
who calls the game. Alfonso Soriano and Barry Bonds hit home runs in
the contest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who Was the Best Commissoner Baseball History
Mountain Landis
Happy Chandler
Ford Frick
William Eckert
Bowie Kuhn
Peter Ueberroth
Bart Giamatti & Fay Vincent
Bud Selig
Stephanie Martinez
"tmc_6882" <tmc_...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:57679ca4.04051...@posting.google.com...
> http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/
>
> Who Was the Best Commissoner Baseball History
> Mountain Landis
> Happy Chandler
> Ford Frick
> William Eckert
> Bowie Kuhn
> Peter Ueberroth
> Bart Giamatti & Fay Vincent
> Bud Selig
Happy Chandler
Peter Uberroth
Mountain Landis
Ford Frick
Bart Giamatti & Fay Vincent
Bowie Kuhn
William Eckert
Bud Selig
IMHO.
--
Truebluestef
with new e-mail address, and temporary blah sig