Bud Selig remains MLB commissioner through 2014

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. -- Very few people took baseball commissioner Bud Selig seriously when he said he planned to retire at the end of this year.

So it was no surprise when Selig emerged from a meeting of the owners Thursday with a two-year contract extension that will keep him on the job until at least 2014, when he will turn 80 years old.

"I've often said, and I believe this, for me personally in my life, there's no higher honor than being the commissioner of baseball,'' Selig said outside the meeting room at the posh Sanctuary resort. "I started hearing a couple of weeks ago that there was a groundswell movement to do this. 'You can't leave now,' I'd hear from various owners. In the end, doing what's in the best interest of baseball -- if this many people believe that and feel that -- is something that I felt I should do."

Selig, then the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, was named acting commissioner in 1992. The acting part of the title was removed in 1998. He has presided over bad times (the 1994-95 strike, the steroid era) and the good times (labor peace, record revenues, sky-high franchise values).

Major League Baseball and the players' union recently concluded a pain-free labor negotiation. Selig has been the driving force in expanding the playoffs, introducing interleague play and implementing a tough drug-testing policy.

"I think he's done a great job," Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said. "This new labor agreement. A lot of different teams have a lot of different interests and they all have things they're struggling with. I think he did a good job of listening to all 30 clubs and coming up with an agreement that addresses some of the issues that all the clubs have as opposed to just a few of the clubs."

Mets owner Fred Wilpon, a longtime Selig ally who sits on the executive committee, said he is "very delighted" with the commissioner's decision to stay.

"Just think of what Bud has done for baseball," Wilpon said. "It's miraculous how baseball has increased its popularity . . . under his guidance."

The only note of discord was from outgoing San Diego Padres owner John Moores, who voted against offering the extension, according to The Associated Press. That made the final vote 29-1.

Moores reportedly was miffed because he had hoped to complete the sale of the Padres to Jeff Moorad at these meetings. But a decision on approving the transaction was deferred by the owners.

"There were a lot of economic concerns,'' Selig said. "The most important thing we do is bringing in new owners, so we have really become very fastidious about whether people can [financially] make it. I'm not suggesting there's anything negative. There were just questions that we didn't have time to answer.''

MLB also is involved in the end game of the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Owner Frank McCourt sparred with Selig over control of the franchise before placing it in bankruptcy and agreeing to sell. The sale is supposed to wrap up by April 30.