Bud Selig, noted car salesman and baseball commissioner, now has an official replacement – Rob Manfred.
Selig will now spend his sunset years in blissful retirement after serving the second-longest tenure of any commissioner – 22 seasons.
Manfred, 55 years-old, is currently the Chief Operating Officer of MLB and was the favorite to be the next commissioner. Manfred was one of two finalists with the other being Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.
Werner, a former owner and illustrious television impresario, had actively sought the position and his faction managed to create a stalemate in the voting process.
The requirement is that 23 must be the magic number in the electoral college of baseball and Manfred reportedly came up a vote short on the first two ballots.
The quarterly Owners Meetings continued, white smoke was seen, and a new commissioner was at hand: it was not Werner.
Manfred now joins a select group as the 10th commissioner of MLB.
Manfred, a graduate of Harvard Law School, provided outside counsel to MLB during the strike of 1994-95. Manfred was hired by MLB in 1998 as Executive Vice President of Economics and League Affairs. In 2013 Manfred replaced Bob DuPuy as Chief Operating Officer.
Reports are the dissident owners were concerned over Manfred’s concessions to the union and that Manfred lacked the ability to broaden baseball’s fan base.
At this point reports are uncertain if the Werner faction will stage a coup d’état.