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

Bill White plans to resign as National League president, baseball officials said Thursday, and Northwestern University President Arnold Weber withdrew his name from consideration as commissioner.

White, the highest-ranking black official in professional sports, has been unhappy with his job for years. His term was to end nearly 11 months ago, but he grudgingly agreed to stay until a successor was found. White wouldn’t say if his departure was imminent and refused to elaborate.

“I resigned on March 31, 1993,” he said, a reference to the original expiration date of his term.

Officials, speaking of the condition they not be identified, said White was angered that the power of league presidents was vastly reduced under the restructuring report adopted Wednesday.

Instead of being solely responsible to owners in their leagues, league presidents will be responsible to the commissioner, who will have the power to hire them.

Weber said he thought the owners misled him by saying a new commissioner would be named in January. Owners decided to delay that decision until the completion of labor talks with players.