Rob Manfred elected new commissioner of Major League Baseball
By Jack Crosby
Although it took a few times to vote, the move that we all expected went down on Thursday as Rob Manfred, the right hand man to Bud Selig, was elected the new commissioner of Major League Baseball, taking over for his mentor.
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Selig, who has been the commissioner of Major League Baseball for the last 22 years, has openly endorsed the election of Manfred for quite some time now, despite some giving him resistance on the matter. In the end, though, everyone knew that there were really no more accomplished candidates than Manfred.
In the initial vote taken on Thursday, Manfred on received 22 votes, one shy of official election. However, just a few hours later, the inevitable occurred and he got the 23 votes necessary to receive appointment to one of the most prestigious jobs in sports.
As for qualifications, most would say that Manfred is more than qualified to hold this post.
Manfred has been working for baseball on a full-time basis since the 1998 season, seeing all the ups and downs that the game had to offer. Not only did he see them, but he was a huge part in helping deal with some of the issues that plagued the game, including being an instrumental part of suspending Alex Rodriguez for an entire season after his involvement with the Tony Bosch performance-enhancing drug scandal.
Just last season, Selig promoted Manfred to the position of Chief Operating Officer, a clear sign that he was being groomed for the events that took place on Thursday.