Jackie Autry Selected to Serve on Baseball’s Search Committee

Jackie Autry of the Angels was one of eight major league executives appointed Tuesday to a search committee that will recommend a candidate to become baseball’s next commissioner.

Bud Selig, chairman of the executive council, said it is possible that a commissioner will be selected by the time the season opens in early April, although it is not certain yet what form the commissioner’s office will take.

A restructuring committee will not make a final report for another two to six weeks, Selig said Tuesday, after an owners’ meeting in Grapevine, Tex.

He reiterated that he expects few changes in the commissioner’s powers and said there is unanimous opinion that baseball needs a strong commissioner.

Deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg and Toronto Blue Jay President Paul Beeston are among those who have already been recommended to Selig or the search committee, of which Beeston is one of the members.

Also appointed to the committee were Bill Bartholomay of the Atlanta Braves, Douglas Danforth of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Fred Kuhlmann of the St. Louis Cardinals, Carl Pohlad of the Minnesota Twins, Haywood Sullivan of the Boston Red Sox and Fred Wilpon of the New York Mets.

The $100-million sale of the San Francisco Giants by Bob Lurie to a group headed by Safeway Inc. Chairman Peter Magowan was unanimously approved at Tuesday’s meeting. Lurie will retain partial ownership for the next four years.