Bud Selig

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball.

When the Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee in 1953, Selig switched allegiances, and eventually became the team's largest public stockholder.

Selig was devastated when he learned that the Braves were going to leave Milwaukee in favor of Atlanta.

Selig graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.A. in American history and political science in 1956.

He served two years in the U.S. Army before working with his father who owned a car leasing business in Milwaukee.

Selig continues to be involved in the automotive industry, serving as president of the Selig Executive Lease Company.

Selig's interest in baseball came from his mother.

An immigrant from Ukraine, Marie Selig attended college, a rare accomplishment for a woman in the early 20th century, and became a school teacher.

When Selig was only three, Marie began taking him and his older brother, Jerry, to Borchert Field, where the minor league Milwaukee Brewers played.

In 1965, when the Braves left Milwaukee, he divested his stock in the team.

As a youngster, Selig's favorite player was Hershel Martin.

He developed a friendship with Hank Aaron, when the young player joined the Braves.

The elder Selig's company provided loaner cars to Braves players, which gave the family access to the clubhouse and players.

The pair later attended Green Bay Packers games together and sat together on the team plane.

As a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves, Selig founded the organization Teams, Inc., in an attempt to prevent the majority owners (based out of Chicago) from moving the club to a larger television market.

This was challenged legally on the basis that no prior team relocations (in the modern era) left a city without a team.

Prior movements had all originated in cities that were home to at least two teams.

When his quest to keep the team in Milwaukee finally failed after the 1965 season, he changed the group's name to Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc., after the minor league baseball team he grew up watching, and devoted himself to returning Major League Baseball to Milwaukee.

The franchise, originally known as the Seattle Pilots, was acquired by Selig in bankruptcy court in 1970, and renamed after the minor league team of the same name that he had watched in his youth and had existed until the arrival of the Braves in Milwaukee in 1953.

Selig was credited with keeping baseball in Milwaukee.

The Brewers went to the 1982 World Series (but were defeated in seven games by the St. Louis Cardinals), and Selig won seven Organization of the Year awards during his tenure.

Selig remains a resident of Milwaukee.

He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998.

Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American Leagues under the Office of the Commissioner.

Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015.

Selig made $14.5 million in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2005.

He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006.

Selig also introduced revenue sharing.

He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record breaking attendance.

During Selig's term of service, the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs became a public issue.

The Mitchell Report, commissioned by Selig, concluded that the MLB commissioners, club officials, the Players Association, and the players all share "to some extent in the responsibility for the steroid era."

Following the release of the Mitchell Report, Congressman Cliff Stearns called publicly for Selig to step down as commissioner, citing his "glacial response" to the "growing stain on baseball."

Selig has pledged on numerous occasions to rid baseball of performance-enhancing drugs, and has overseen and instituted many rule changes and penalties to that end.

A Milwaukee native, Selig was previously the owner and team president of the Milwaukee Brewers.

On January 17, 2008, Selig's contract was extended through 2012, after which he planned to retire, but he then decided to stay as commissioner until the end of the 2014 season, a move approved by the owners on January 12, 2012, which would take his leadership past his 80th birthday.

Selig announced on September 26, 2013, that he would retire in January 2015.

On January 22, 2015, MLB announced that Selig would formally step down from the office when his current term expired on January 24, 2015.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Selig was born in Milwaukee, and grew up in a Jewish family.

His father, Ben Selig, had come to the United States from Romania with his family when he was four years old.