Baseball Changes Top Job : Owners: Power of commissioner is severely limited. Former commissioners say the move weakens the office.

The power of a commissioner to act in the best interest of baseball has been significantly curtailed, according to restructuring changes released by the owners that prevent interference with their business decisions.

The new provisions prevent commissioners from using the best-interest canopy to affect the World Series and postseason play, scheduling, interleague play, divisional alignment, expansion, the sale of teams, the relocation of teams and revenue-sharing.

Dodger President Peter O’Malley, a member of the restructuring committee and an advocate of a strong, independent commissioner, refused to address specifics of the Friday release by baseball because he had not seen it, but he said in general that the work of the committee “identified, clarified and removed ambiguities” that previously existed in the 73-year-old major league agreement under which the commissioner operated.

“If anything,” he said, “the powers of the commissioner and league presidents have been strengthened, not weakened.”

That interpretation was disputed by former commissioner Fay Vincent, who resigned under pressure on Sept. 7, 1992, two months after he unilaterally realigned the National League, prompting a court battle with the Chicago Cubs over the commissioner’s power. The office has been vacant since Vincent stepped down, and the owners recently voted to have Bud Selig, president of the Milwaukee Brewers, remain in an interim position as chairman of baseball’s executive council until completion of collective bargaining negotiations with the players’ union.

Vincent said the changes weaken the office and are wrong. However, he predicted that they “will be corrected in time.” He added: “Baseball has seen this before, but eventually it changes back.”

Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth told the Associated Press: “Basically, the commissioner seems to have no portfolio, power or job. That’s what it looks like from a distance. I think the changes dramatically change the position. There will be the appearance of more responsibility, but substantially less authority. That’s the recipe for a non-job.”

Ueberroth said the changes will lead to teams taking in less money, and predicted owners will raise ticket prices to make up the difference.

“When you have a committee make business decisions, it usually doesn’t produce very positive results,” he said. “Baseball is certainly run by the owners, and that may be proper for a while, but I agree with Fay that eventually their own actions will force a way back to a more traditional commissioner, like basketball or football.”

Selig commented positively on the changes, saying: “I think overall the office is clearly strengthened. This brings the whole structure and office into this decade and gets ready for the 21st Century. I think the key is it clears up the ambiguities.”

New York Met President Fred Wilpon, co-chairman of the restructuring committee, defended the changes, saying they made the commissioner’s job more attractive because the role was more defined.

“He’s involved in the integrity of the game,as well as (being) the chief person running the game,” Wilpon said. “He’s the chairman of all the major committees. That’s a very powerful position.”

Although the owners had announced at a January meeting in Florida that they were putting labor relations under the auspices of the commissioner and eliminating their Player Relations Committee, the new changes say: “The powers of the commissioner to act in the best interest of baseball shall be inapplicable to any matter relating to a subject of collective bargaining between the clubs and the Major League Baseball Players Assn.”

That prevents a commissioner from unilaterally ending a management lockout, as Bowie Kuhn did in 1976.

The changes were contained in the long-dormant restructuring report adopted by the owners on Jan 19.

The statement released by the commissioner’s office Friday said: “Owners have enhanced the authority and independence of the baseball commissioner” and changes were made to clarify the best-interest power.

In reality, the best-interest clause seems to have been gutted, but American League President Bobby Brown said: “The best-interest clause is still effective where it’s most needed, in protecting the integrity of the game. The only thing (the owners) were trying to do was eliminate the possibility of (a unilateral) move (by a future commissioner) that didn’t make an awful lot of sense.”

The changes announced Friday failed to resolve one of their central disputes with Vincent: whether they have the power to fire a commissioner. However, the executive council may declare a commissioner incapacitated and take over his power by a two-thirds vote.