White to Resign as NL President; Weber Won’t Be Commissioner

Arnold Weber, president of Northwestern University, withdrew his name from consideration as baseball commissioner Thursday, saying he had been misled by major league owners.

Harvey Schiller, U.S. Olympic Committee executive director, is the other finalist for the commissioner’s job. He was said to be both angered and amused at the conduct of the owners, who Wednesday decided not to hire a commissioner during the 1994 season because of ongoing collective bargaining with players.

“I had been given assurances that the process would be brought to closure,” said Weber, a 64-yer-old economist. “Obviously, this was not the case.”

Besides deciding not to elect a commissioner, owners and officials cut the power of league presidents, making them solely responsible to the commissioner, who would hire them and have the power to fire them.

But, because a commissioner won’t be hired soon, search committees made up of owners in each league will pick successors to Bobby Brown, American League president, and Bill White, National League president.