Commissioner Search at 4 1/2 Years, Counting

When baseball owners started searching for a new commissioner, George Bush was president.

More than 4 1/2 years later, they still don’t have a short list.

“There’s no time limit, obviously,” Bud Selig said on Sept. 9, 1992, when owners picked him to be acting commissioner. “(It’s) hopefully relatively short term, but if you’re asking me what relatively short term means, obviously this morning I don’t know.”

Colorado Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris will head the search committee, but Selig isn’t ready to acknowledge that publicly. The next item is hiring the outside search firm.

“I would think once that decision is made, I think it will move fairly quickly,” McMorris said.

In January 1994, owners halted their search after the committee--then headed by Atlanta Braves chairman Bill Bartholomay--came up with two finalists who couldn’t get enough support among owners: Arnold Weber, then the Northwestern University president, and Harvey Schiller, then with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

This time, more high-profile names will be considered. If owners don’t want an outsider, they could turn to NL president Len Coleman. And there’s still a lingering suspicion that Selig wants the job.

He says he has no intention of taking it, but refuses to rule it out.

“I think I’ve made my position very clear,” Selig said.

Given the owners’ languid pace, when could a finalist emerge?

“I would presume a decision could be made maybe by the end of this season,” McMorris said.

The last three commissioners all had short terms: Peter Ueberroth 4 1/2 years, A. Bartlett Giamatti six months, Fay Vincent three years. Owners were angry that Ueberroth and Vincent made decisions without consulting them, and Giamatti’s term ended when he died of a heart attack a week after concluding the Pete Rose gambling probe.

Will the next commissioner have power? Or will he be a milquetoast?

“The integrity issue is clearly No. 1 in my mind,” McMorris said. “Obviously, we want a person who has feeling for the game and cares for the game, somebody who has an ability to bring people together. Someone who is able to have relations with the media, able to connect to future marketing opportunities.”

Union head Donald Fehr says baseball’s problems won’t be solved until a full-time commissioner is hired.

“We have to reignite passions for the game,” he said. “On the business side, we have to work cooperatively, bring new advertisers, bring new publicity to baseball. We have to put the best face on and the best product out that we can.”