Peter Ueberroth
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Peter Ueberroth was elected to succeed Bowie Kuhn on March 3, 1984 and took office on October 1 of that year. As a condition of his hiring, Ueberroth increased the commissioner’s fining ability from $5,000 to $250,000. His salary was raised to a reported $450,000, nearly twice what Kuhn was paid.
Just as Ueberroth was taking office the Major League Umpires Union was threatening to strike the postseason. Fortunately, Ueberroth managed to arbitrate the disagreement and had the umpires back to work before the League Championship Series were over. The next summer, Ueberroth worked behind the scenes to limit a players' strike to one day before a new labor agreement was worked out with the Players Association.
During the course of his stint as commissioner, Ueberroth reinstated Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who had been banned from working for Major League Baseball by Kuhn because of their associations with gambling casinos. Also, Ueberroth facilitated collusion, suspended numerous players because of cocaine use, negotiated a $1.2 billion television contract with CBS, and initiated the investigation against Pete Rose's betting habits.
At his urging, the Chicago Cubs chose to install lights at Wrigley Field rather than reimburse the leagues for lost night-game revenues. Ueberroth then found a new source of income in the form of persuading large corporations to pay for the privilege of having their products endorsed by Major League Baseball.
Under Ueberroth, Major League Baseball enjoyed increased attendance (record attendance four straight seasons), greater awareness of crowd control and alcohol management within ballparks, a successful and vigilant anti-drug campaign, significant industry-wide improvement in the area of fair employment, and a significantly improved financial picture for the industry. When Ueberroth took office, 21 of the 26 clubs were losing money; in Ueberroth's last full season - 1988 - all clubs either broke even or finished in the black. In 1987, for example, baseball as an industry showed a net profit of $21.3 million, its first profitable year since 1973.
The MLBPA filed collusion charges, arguing that Ueberroth and team owners had violated the collective bargaining agreement in the 1985-1987 seasons. The MLBPA won each case, resulting in "second look" free agents, and over $280 million in owner fines.
Before the start of the 1989 regular season, Ueberroth stepped down as commissioner even though his term wasn't scheduled to end until October of that year. Three years after leaving office, he led the Rebuild Los Angeles project after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
