Bowie Kuhn

Bowie Kent Kuhn stood six feet five, spent his boyhood operating the scoreboard at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., became a partner at the law firm that represented the National League, was elected commissioner unanimously at 42 when the owners needed somebody they could trust, presided over baseball's transition from the reserve clause to free agency while opposing every step of it, moved the World Series to prime-time television, sat through October night games without an overcoat while wearing thermal underwear beneath his suit, and was fired for his trouble by the same owners who hired him. Charlie Finley called him "the village idiot." Peter Ueberroth called him "a great commissioner" who "belongs in the Hall of Fame." The Veterans Committee agreed with Ueberroth and elected Kuhn in December 2007, nine months after his death.

Takoma Park

Kuhn was born on October 28, 1926, in Takoma Park, Maryland. His father Louis was a Bavarian immigrant who fought in World War I and became a fuel executive. His mother Alice was a descendant of Jim Bowie, the frontiersman for whom the Bowie knife is named, and for whom Kuhn himself was named. At Theodore Roosevelt High School, he was the tallest student at six feet five. Red Auerbach, the basketball coach (and later the legendary Boston Celtics executive), recruited him for the team, but after one week of workouts Auerbach told him, "You were right and I was wrong."

Kuhn earned an honors degree in economics from Princeton in 1947 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1950, where he served on the editorial board of the law review. He joined Willkie Farr and Gallagher in New York, made partner in 1961, and became the firm's primary baseball attorney. He represented the sport before the Supreme Court in 1953 when a minor leaguer named George Toolson challenged the antitrust exemption, and the court upheld it.

The Commissioner

When Commissioner William Eckert was forced out in December 1968, the owners elected Kuhn unanimously on February 4, 1969, the youngest commissioner in baseball history. His initial salary of $100,000 was a pay cut from his law firm earnings.

Kuhn moved World Series games to prime-time television, and the consequences followed him for the rest of his career. Game 4 of the 1971 World Series at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh was the first World Series night game, drawing a 34.8 rating and more than 60 million viewers. Kuhn attended bareheaded and coatless in the cold, and the cameras found him repeatedly. The pattern became ritual. During Game 2 of the 1976 World Series in Cincinnati, with temperatures in the low 40s, he sat in the front row without an overcoat. Reporters later revealed the thermal underwear. Dave Anderson quipped that "even his undershirt was stuffed."

The Decisions

Kuhn suspended Denny McLain in February 1970 for involvement with bookmakers. He established the committee that opened the Hall of Fame to Negro League players in 1971, starting with Satchel Paige. His initial plan to create a separate display section drew fierce criticism from Jim Murray of the LA Times, who wrote, "They segregated the Hall of Fame!" Kuhn later claimed in his memoir Hardball that he anticipated the outcry and used it strategically to force the Hall of Fame board into accepting full membership. Bill James called the maneuver a "very proud" but troubling approach of "doing an end run around the Hall of Fame board of directors by exposing the Hall, and himself, to public criticism."

Curt Flood wrote to Kuhn on Christmas Eve 1969, saying, "After twelve years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes." Kuhn's reply acknowledged Flood was "not a piece of property" but said he could not set aside the reserve clause unilaterally. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in baseball's favor in June 1972, but the case laid the groundwork for free agency.

In April 1974, Kuhn ordered the Atlanta Braves to play Hank Aaron in the opening series at Cincinnati rather than bench him to save the record-breaking 715th home run for the Atlanta home opener. Aaron tied Ruth's record with 714 in his first at-bat on Opening Day. The 715th came at the home opener on April 8. Kuhn was absent, having attended a speaking engagement with the Cleveland Indians booster club. He sent Monte Irvin as his representative, and Irvin was booed.

Finley

Kuhn and Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley clashed across the entire decade. In the 1973 World Series, Finley forced player Mike Andrews to sign a false affidavit claiming injury after Andrews committed errors, and Kuhn ordered Andrews reinstated. In June 1976, after the Messersmith-McNally arbitration ended the reserve clause, Finley attempted to sell Vida Blue to the Yankees and Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi to the Red Sox for a combined $3.5 million. Kuhn voided the sales under his "best interests of the game" authority. Finley sued, and a federal judge upheld Kuhn two years later. By then, the players were free agents and the Athletics had collapsed.

Kuhn also suspended George Steinbrenner for making illegal contributions to Richard Nixon's reelection campaign and fined Ted Turner and suspended him for a year for tampering with a free agent during the 1976 World Series. He barred Willie Mays in 1979 and Mickey Mantle in 1983 from baseball activities for working as casino promoters, though neither was accused of gambling on the sport. Ueberroth reinstated both in 1985.

The Vote

On November 1, 1982, the owners voted on Kuhn's reelection. The American League supported him 11-3, but the National League fell short at 7-5. Reelection required a three-fourths majority in each league separately, so 18-8 overall was insufficient. The five National League opponents, called the "Gang of Five," included Ted Turner, Nelson Doubleday, John McMullen, Gussie Busch's Cardinals management, and the Cincinnati Reds' William Williams. Steinbrenner was among the three American League dissenters, still bitter over his suspension.

Kuhn stayed through September 30, 1984, to help find a successor and because Ueberroth was occupied with the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Daniel Okrent characterized the commissionership by then, writing, "What the world saw was a remote, arrogant man, vain and hung up in the trappings of his office. What the owners got was more formidable."

Jacksonville

After leaving the commissionership, Kuhn returned to Willkie Farr and Gallagher, then partnered with Harvey Myerson to form Myerson and Kuhn. The firm filed for bankruptcy in December 1989, leaving Kuhn on the hook for at least $3.1 million. He sold his Ridgewood, New Jersey, home and relocated to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where the homestead exemption shielded his new residence from creditors. He consulted through the Kent Group and Sports Franchises Inc. and became active in Catholic lay ministry, serving as chairman of the Catholic Advisory Board of Ave Maria Mutual Funds.

During his tenure, attendance grew from 23 million to 45.5 million, television revenue increased by more than $10 million, and the leagues expanded from 20 to 26 teams. He advocated for revenue sharing, three divisions, and wild-card teams, all of which were implemented later under Bud Selig. In a 1987 interview, he said, "I think I knew more about the game and its welfare than anybody, and I still do. If that's arrogant, so be it."

Kuhn underwent open-heart surgery in October 2004, just before his 78th birthday. In April 2005, he attended the Washington Nationals' home opener at RFK Stadium as Commissioner Selig's guest, a return to the city where he grew up watching baseball. He died of pneumonia on March 15, 2007, at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, at 80. Jim Bouton, whose book Ball Four Kuhn had once called "detrimental to baseball," said of his Hall of Fame election over Marvin Miller, "That's like putting Wile E. Coyote in the Hall of Fame instead of the Road Runner."