Who Will Be Baseball's Next Commissioner?

The biggest moment in baseball this week will happen off the field. At the final day of the quarterly meeting Thursday, MLB owners will vote on baseball's next commissioner. Current commish Bud Selig says he will retire when his latest term ends in January. The new commissioner will require the approval of 23 out of 30 owners. After the candidate has the required number of votes, a white plume of smoke will rise from Baltimore. Habemus Commisham!

Think of all the changes in the game Selig has ruled over: Four new teams. Three divisions. The 1994 strike and World Series cancellation. The Expos move. The sharp rise of steroids, amphetamines, and other performance-enhancing drugs—and the increased drug testing as a result. The sharp rise in valuations of clubs. The explosion in TV deal revenue. The downfall of artificial turf and rise of the taxpayer-funded, retro-styled stadium. The Wild Card. Instant replay. The All-Star Game tie. The unbalanced schedule. Interleague play. Mascot races.

Selig had his hands in these in differing ways—okay, except for mascot races—but his influence on the game is clear. The next commissioner may not serve as long or have as great an impact as Selig, but he'll have an influence. ESPN's Buster Olney recently wrote a to-do list for the next commissioner. It included speeding up the pace of games—something Selig failed on, and something the unaffiliated Atlantic League is attempting to do—figuring out what to do with the Rays and Athletics and expanding instant replay. These aren't as big a deal as adding more playoff teams, but they're important issues nonetheless. In contrast to Selig, who works out of an office in Milwaukee, the new commissioner will operate out of MLB's main office in New York. If you live or work in Manhattan, maybe you'll see him and get a chance to heckle!

MLB did not hire an outside search committee, but instead formed a committee of current owners to find a replacement: Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Philadelphia Phillies CEO Dave Montgomery, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort, Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno, Pittsburgh Pirates chairman Bob Nutting, and Minnesota Twins CEO Jim Pohlad. Many of these men are baseball lifers and all of them are Selig allies. "The owners haven't gone against his recommendation for 22 years, so why start now?" USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote earlier this year. But there's a snag: A group of owners, led by Reinsdorf, don't want to go along with Selig's presumed pick.

The race for commissioner of major league baseball is not wide open. The list of possible Bud Selig successors has been narrowed to three: Two from inside baseball's executive office—chief operating officer Rob Manfred and executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan—and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.

With the vote coming this week, here's a look at the three men in the running to replace Selig.

Rob Manfred

Currently: Chief operating officer, MLB

Baseball experience: Manfred was appointed COO in 2013. The office had been vacant since Bob DuPuy left after a falling out with Selig in 2010. Before Manfred became COO, he was MLB's executive vice president of labor relations. He approved the sale of the Dodgers and the team's new TV deal. He served as outside counsel for the owners during the 1994-95 strike.

Previously: Manfred was a partner in the Labor and Employment Law Section of Morgan Lewis. He went to Cornell undergrad and Harvard law.

Fun fact: He appeared on a panel at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference alongside Adam Silver, Scott Boras, and Gary Bettman.

When Bud Selig appointed Rob Manfred COO last year, he was setting up his heir apparent. Indeed, Manfred reportedly has the support of 20 owners already, almost enough to win the election. But there is a cabal of owners attempting to block his ascension. The New York Daily News reports White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, and three Red Sox owners (John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner) think Manfred is too lenient on the players' union. Drama! This is like a papal election in the medieval period.

Tim Brosnan

Currently: Executive vice president, business, MLB

Baseball experience: Brosnan was named an EVP of MLB in 2000. In his role, he "oversees all domestic and international business functions of Major League Baseball's Office of the Commissioner." He is behind MLB's merchandising and TV rights deals that make rich people even richer. He first joined baseball as vice president of international business affairs in 1991.

Previously: Brosnan is (surprise!) a lawyer. He graduated from Georgetown undergrad and went to Fordham for law school.

Fun fact: According to Irish America, Brosnan—a second-generation Irish-American—says an Irish player in the majors is a possibility in the future. Of course, this short bio also starts calling him "Kevin" halfway through, so who knows.

Tim Brosnan has been a baseball executive for more than 20 years, so he'd certainly be a pick that lends stability to the office of the commissioner. But it seems unlikely the owners would pick a lower-level employee over the COO, unless Brosnan becomes a compromise candidate.

Tom Werner

Currently: Chairman, Boston Red Sox

Baseball experience: Werner purchased a controlling interest in the San Diego Padres in 1990. He was an incredibly unpopular owner in San Diego, having been the one responsible for bringing Roseanne Barr to sing the national anthem at the stadium in 1992. He stripped the team of its assets so much the Padres lost 101 games in the 1993 season, finishing behind even the expansion Rockies. He sold his majority stake in the club in 1994, keeping 10 percent of the team until the 2006-07 offseason. In 2001, Werner partnered with ex-Marlins owner John Henry to purchase the Boston Red Sox. Werner owns just a share of the club.

Previously: Werner, who graduated from Harvard with an English degree, founded Carsey-Werner Productions in 1981. He says he and Marcy Carsey delivered Robin Williams to Garry Marshall, which led to the creation of Mork and Mindy. Carsey-Werner later created several shows, including The Cosby Show. ("It was Werner who said that Bill Cosby's character, originally slated to be a limo driver, should instead be a professional man," his official biography reads.) Carsey-Werner also created Roseanne. Yes, the Roseanne Barr national anthem was a piece of cross-promotion for his hit TV show. That's the kind of corporate synergy that could get you elected commissioner!

Fun fact: In his autobiography (written with Dan Shaughnessy), former Red Sox manager Terry Francona wrote that Werner hired a PR firm to get his name in the press. "When stories were written about Henry or the Red Sox, he was known to call writers and ask: 'Why didn't you mention me in your story?'"

Though he told the Boston Globe last month he had no interest in being baseball commissioner, Werner is apparently the choice of the owners opposed to Rob Manfred. John Henry says he'd be a "great commissioner." ("You won't find a more popular person in the television industry," he added, for some reason.)

So why could this week's vote be so split? Despite baseball's (relative) labor peace the last two decades, the owners believe the players will dig in for a fight next time. A veteran GM told Peter Gammons: "The players want more, we have a new group of highly-questionable owners and while the small market owners want chances to succeed, you have owners in several big markets who want less revenue-sharing and won't want to cede any part of their local media rights to major league baseball. This could be very ugly for years to come."

It looks like things are already starting to get very ugly, very fast.

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