Former Commissioner Allan "Bud" Selig and executive John Schuerholz were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, Major League Baseball announced.
The two men were elected by the 16-person Today's Game Era Committee, which considered 10 candidates. Schuerholz was a unanimous decision, while Selig received 15 votes. Candidates needed 75 percent (12 votes) for election.
Selig, 82, was baseball’s ninth commissioner, serving from 1992 to 2015. During his tenure, baseball expanded by four teams, the playoffs were expanded to include wild cards, regular-season interleague games were initiated and the World Baseball Classic was created. The MLB Network also debuted under Selig’s watch, and the sport experienced large economic growth.
Selig also presided over a strike that erased a large chunk of the 1994 season and caused the cancellation of that season’s World Series. The All-Star game ended in an embarrassing 11-inning tie in 2002, and in 2003 the midseason classic was used to determine the home team for the World Series. That has since been changed; MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement reached last week removed that policy beginning in 2017.
The increase in the use of performance enhancing drugs also occurred during Selig’s watch.
Selig is the fifth commissioner to enter the Hall of Fame, joining Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Albert “Happy” Chandler, Ford Frick and Bowie Kuhn.
Schuerholz guided the Kansas City Royals to their first World Series title in 1985 and later won another crown in Atlanta while leading the Braves to 14 division titles and five pennants.
Today's Game Era committee considers players whose contributions to the game have been achieved since 1988. The Modern Baseball (1970-1987), Golden Days (1950-69) and Early Baseball (1871-1949) committees cover other facets of baseball history.
Other candidates considered were Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Mark McGwire, Lou Piniella and George Steinbrenner.
