MLB’s new commissioner has plenty of issues on his plate

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Rob Manfred knows he’ll get pounded now that he’s baseball commissioner — his name is printed in blue script on the sweet spot between the seams of every big league ball.

“Probably good if I get hit hard,” he said, smiling and laughing, during an interview with The Associated Press. “A little more offense. We don’t have to deal with that issue.”

Manfred’s desk on the 31st floor of baseball’s Park Avenue offices was tidy on Monday morning, the first business day after he succeeded Bud Selig and started a five-year term as commissioner. Having worked for MLB since 1998 as an executive vice president and then as chief operating officer, he didn’t have to move into a new office.

The issues are piled up, perhaps not physically, but the to-do list is lengthy: Oakland and Tampa Bay want new ballparks; negotiations are ongoing with players over pace of play and domestic violence; Baltimore and Washington are fighting in court over broadcast revenue; there is widespread agreement initiatives must be undertaken to develop young fans and players.

A pitch clock must be considered and decreased offense scrutinized along with increased defensive shifts.

Tighter balls? Shorter fences? A lower mound? Banning defensive shifts?

Perhaps they can be talked about in the future.

“I do think it’s important for the game to continue to modernize,” he said. “That modernization has to proceed at a pace that allows us to be very respectful of the traditions of the game and keeps us from making a hasty error, as they say.”

He opened his regime Sunday by releasing an open letter to fans, promising development in urban areas and increased emphasis on partnering with high school, college and amateur ball.

He left his home early on a snowy Monday and took the commuter train from Tarrytown to Grand Central Terminal, as he has most days since he was hired by MLB after 11 years as an outside counsel with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Born Sept. 28, 1958, Manfred grew up in Rome, New York, and is thought to be the first commissioner to have played Little League Baseball. He wears conservative suits and has a gap-toothed smile and a receding hairline, looking every bit the corporate lawyer he was. His Cornell undergraduate and Harvard Law School diplomas are on the wall behind his desk, to the side of his computer. A flat-screen television on another wall broadcasts sports news.

The contrast between the 56-year-old Manfred and the 80-year-old Selig is clear. The longtime Brewers owner ruled baseball from Milwaukee with grandfatherly charm. Selig claims to have never sent an email during his 22-plus years in charge.

“Bud I and are actually very different,” Manfred said. “Bud’s not much of a technology guy. I am the original plugged-in technology guy. Bud is an expert at the politics of managing owners. He does it with an art of persuasion. I think I can effectively manage the owners as well, but my style will be more based on information, rational persuasion, argument, than just politics.”