Bowie Kuhn Elected Baseball's Fifth Commissioner

On February 4, 1969, the 24 major league club owners elected attorney Bowie Kuhn as commissioner of baseball on a pro-tem basis. Kuhn was a compromise choice after months of deadlock between factions that could not agree on a permanent successor to William Eckert, who had been fired the previous December.

Kuhn had spent nearly two decades as outside legal counsel for the National League. He knew the owners, understood their disputes, and carried no public profile that might complicate negotiations. At 42, he was the youngest person to hold the office since Kenesaw Mountain Landis took over in 1920.

His tenure would span 15 years and some of the most consequential labor battles in professional sports history. The Curt Flood case reached the Supreme Court during Kuhn's watch. Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally's grievance ended the reserve clause in 1975 and launched the free agency era. A 50-day player strike split the 1981 season.

Kuhn also made decisions that generated lasting controversy. He voided Charlie Finley's attempted fire sale of Oakland A's stars in 1976, citing the "best interests of baseball." He banned Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from the sport for taking jobs at Atlantic City casinos. Both were reinstated by his successor, Peter Ueberroth.

Kuhn's election on this date set the stage for a period of rapid transformation. The game he inherited in 1969 still operated under the reserve clause, had just completed its first expansion, and paid its highest-salaried player around $125,000. By the time he left office in 1984, free agency had reshaped every aspect of the business.