How did Rob Manfred become MLB Commissioner?
By a vote of the 30 Major League Clubs, Rob Manfred was elected MLB Commissioner.
On January 25, 2015, he was sworn in as the sport’s leader. Manfred was re-elected by the club’s owners on November 15, 2018, for a five-year term ending in 2024.
Since Manfred took office, MLB has reached a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, which will extend the sport’s unprecedented era of 26 years of labor peace through 2021,
as well as a landmark transaction in which The Walt Disney Company acquired a 75 percent stake in BAMTech, a leading technology platform and video streaming company founded by MLB.
Manfred has overseen the creation of stronger ties with youth baseball and softball organizations, as well as the allocation of new resources to improve MLB’s amateur presence.
He launched PLAY BALL, MLB’s trademark youth engagement initiative, in collaboration with USA Baseball and USA Softball.
PLAY BALL supports both formal and casual play. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, PLAY BALL has resulted in significant gains in baseball and softball participation (SFIA).
Manfred has made worldwide expansion a priority for the game.
The Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Team played a historic exhibition game on March 22nd at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, with President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in attendance.
