Joel Sherman

Joel Sherman

MLB

Selig steered baseball to peace and prosperity

Bud Selig was a man of a certain age. He emailed, but only through an associate. He didn’t tweet or belong to Facebook.

It is ironic, therefore, that the Internet facet of the majors, Baseball Advanced Media (BAM), stands as one of the great achievements of Selig’s commissionership, taking the sport out of the Dark Ages and making the owners billions of dollars.

But Selig’s success as a commissioner — and despite his polarizing persona, his term was quite successful — owed very much to him being a man of a certain age. He believed in direct verbal communications, not emails or texts. Hour after hour and day after day in person or, mainly, on the phone, Selig built enduring, endearing and powerful relationships with the 30 owners.

They all sensed they had his ear, that he shared their unique concerns, that he was an ally. He did favors and expected favors back. He cajoled, lobbied and — when necessary — strong-armed.

In the end, he created what would have been inconceivable when he took over: something close to consensus among owners with disparate market sizes and agendas. They still fought internally. But Selig got them to work as a group in places that would have seemed impossible not long ago, particularly in economic matters such as greater revenue sharing and the presence of a luxury tax.

From that has sprung a more congenial working rapport with the Players Association. So what used to bring self-destruction every few years to the sport — work stoppages — no longer exists. Instead, MLB and the players will be at 21 years of labor peace when the current collective bargaining agreement ends in 2016.

And, perhaps, this is what will stand out most about the Selig tenure — of course, he had horrible failures, nothing worse than losing the World Series in 1994 to labor strife and overseeing the sport during the steroid era. But from the 1994 disaster sprung the better relationship, which has allowed owners and players to constructively work on matters such as expanded playoffs, interleague play and a joint drug agreement the two sides re-open regularly to try to strengthen.

Selig was not a king, though he had tons of power. So he could not just tell his owners to care more about drugs, when they were obsessed with economics, or unilaterally install drug testing without collectively bargaining for it. Unfortunately, there is generally an evolution, not a revolution, with such matters. And Selig had to deal with the pace of evolution.

But, in general, I think history will treat well the history major from the University of Wisconsin. Because ultimately the job of the commissioner is to make his constituents money and he did that — and then some. Attendance, worldwide appeal and — most importantly — franchise values skyrocketed in his tenure.

With all the venom and controversies — steroids, the lost World Series, a tied All-Star Game — he will hand off to his successor a sport in far better health and with a better working apparatus than the one he took over in 1992, first as acting commissioner and then as the full-time man in 1998.

In a statement, Selig said he would soon announce a transition plan to name his successor. The favorite will likely be his No. 1 lieutenant on labor issues, Rob Manfred, though I believe Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski remains an interesting dark horse. Sandy Alderson, 66, and Joe Torre, 73, probably are too old to first be taking over the job on Jan. 24, 2015. Several people I have spoken to who will have some voice in the process described the situation as fluid and said many powerful folks inside and outside the industry are already jockeying for position.

Selig still has 16 months on the job, a time when the arbitration decision on Alex Rodriguez, the expansion of instant replay and stadium issues in St. Petersburg and Oakland still can impact his legacy. For the most part, though, the guy caricatured as an overmatched used car salesman has persevered and prospered in the job. There is no such thing as a perfect commissioner — too much can and will go wrong, too many issues from the DH to wild cards will split your fan base and leave you despised by some large segment.

And Selig was imperfect. But his love for the sport was never a question. His legacy will be belying his Luddite sensibility to make the sport more modern, going from an ownership hawk to a labor peace overseer and remaining a great communicator, willing to talk and talk and form bonds that make his sport stronger than ever.