This weekend marks the official start of Rob Manfred's role as the tenth commissioner in Major League Baseball history, and the game will likely be in for some interesting changes as Manfred looks to construct his own legacy in the sport.
A native New Yorker, Manfred graduated from Cornell University and Harvard Law School in the early 1980s. He put his experience at Harvard Law to quick use, clerking for Judge Joseph L. Tauro of the United States District Court for the State of Massachusetts. After that, he would join the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as a partner, working on cases involving labor and employment law.
In his late twenties, Manfred would get his first break in Major League Baseball in 1987 working with MLB during its collective bargaining efforts. He would return to action during the 1994-95 strike, serving as outside counsel for the league's owners.
After dalliances with Major League Baseball in an outside legal capacity, Manfred was hired on full-time back in 1998 to serve as the Executive Vice President of Economics And League Affairs. He would serve in that labor relations role for 15 years, spearheading the negotiation efforts that led to the collective bargaining agreements of 2002, 2006 and 2011. In those agreements, Manfred helped instituted aggressive reforms that increased revenue sharing and payroll taxes, while adding structure to the amateur talent acquisition process and enforcing strict debt regulation.
On Sept. 28, 2013, Manfred was named to the role of Chief Operating Officer of MLB. In that capacity, Manfred reported directly to former Commissioner Bud Selig while overseeing all of the traditional aspects of the Commissioner's Office, including labor relations, finance, baseball operations, administration and club governance.
With Selig announcing that 2014 would be his swansong as baseball's ninth commissioner, Manfred would be up for a quick promotion as he was elected the forthcoming new commish of baseball on August 14th, 2014.
Manfred officially succeeded Bud Selig on Sunday, January 25th, yet he's already tipped his hand as to some of the changes he might institute. This includes quickening the pace of play, researching the potential elimination of defensive shifts, and looking to build a more sustainable bond between the Commissioner's Office, the owners, and MLB's players.
Whatever changes occur under his guidance, it's clear that a new chapter in the game's history has offically begun.
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