Stark: How will MLB change when Rob Manfred replaces Bud Selig?

From SABR member Jayson Stark at ESPN.com on August 29, 2014:

The next commissioner of baseball isn’t going to spend the next 20 years trying to imitate the current commissioner of baseball, Mr. Allan H. (Bud) Selig.

Not that that would even be possible, of course. Even if the next commissioner was going to be Frank Caliendo, as opposed to Robert D. (Rob) Manfred Jr.

“I think Bud has a unique leadership style,” Manfred said this week, two weeks after being elected to this exalted gig but five months before he’ll actually assume office.

“And that style is based on the level of trust and confidence these owners have in him. So by necessity, I’m going to have to lead in a different way.”

Hmmm. Smart man.

What Rob Manfred is facing may not quite be up there with Mantle following DiMaggio. But Bud Selig is leaving an imprint on his sport that’s approximately the size of the Grand Canyon. So his successor already understands that his ticket to success — both for himself and for his sport — is to take his own road, not the Bud Selig Highway.

And what might that road look like? Sorry. Manfred isn’t ready to say yet. Not while the current commissioner is still in office, touring ballparks, wearing out his office telephone and acting as engaged in his commish work as ever.

So painting a portrait of the Manfred administration is just going to have to be our job. And we can assure you that the leadership style of the next commissioner has a chance to be not merely “different” from the style of Bud Selig, but dramatically different.

In what ways, you ask? In just about every way, to be honest.

Read the full article here: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11426238/five-ways-incoming-commissioner-rob-manfred-put-own-stamp-mlb



Originally published: August 29, 2014. Last Updated: August 29, 2014.