Better put the finishing touches on your fantastical "if I was commish" list. There's a job opportunity coming up soon.
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig formally announced today that he will retire at the end of his current term on Jan. 24, 2015. The date will allow Selig to oversee the end of this season as well as the entire 2014 campaign.
“It remains my great privilege to serve the game I have loved throughout my life," Selig said in a statement. "Baseball is the greatest game ever invented, and I look forward to continuing its extraordinary growth and addressing several significant issues during the remainder of my term."
The 79-year-old entered the world of professional baseball in 1970, when he purchased the Milwaukee Pilots and relocated them to Milwaukee, where they eventually became the Brewers. He was a member of the group of MLB team owners that worked to oust then-commissioner Fay Vincent over a variety of issues and ultimately took over as acting commissioner in 1992 after Vincent resigned. He was formally elected commissioner in 1998.
Though discussions of Selig's legacy will always bring up how he handled the "steroid era," which included testifying before Congress and some somewhat contradictory statements on the issue, the commissioner has added several accomplishments to his resume throughout his tenure. ESPN, for instance, cites dividing each league into three divisions instead of two, the addition of the wild card, more expansions teams like Arizona and Tampa Bay, and the implementation of instant replay as a few noteworthy examples.
"At his heart, Bud is a baseball fan, and that perspective has driven all he has done during his time as commissioner," Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said. "That is his legacy."
Selig says he will announce a transition plan to prepare for his retirement while MLB officials work to find a replacement. CBS Sports notes that the names of several executives have been floated around, the most recognizable being former Yankees/Dodgers manager Joe Torre.
Selig will oversee his penultimate year of baseball playoffs beginning next week, when the 2013 MLB postseason officially begins.
