PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) – Major League Baseball owners gathered Wednesday for their annual January meeting in the desert with one big item on the agenda – honoring Bud Selig in his final gathering with them as commissioner.
About 250 people were expected at a dinner in his honor Wednesday night, held in a huge tent set up on the grounds of The Sanctuary resort on the south slopes of Camelback Mountain. A series of speakers were lined up to praise Selig, who at age 80 will end his 22-plus years in charge of the game when he is succeeded by Rob Manfred on Jan. 25.
“He’s been great for our game in growing the game,” said Joe Torre, the longtime player and manager who now works for Selig as executive vice president of baseball operations, “just for his love of the sport and his respect for the sport.”
New York Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said there are three main parts to the legacy of Selig, who will become commissioner emeritus.
“He wasn’t a small-market guy, not a big-market guy,” Steinbrenner said. “He did what he thought was best for baseball. Sometime that went a particular owner’s way, and sometimes it went against a particular owner.”