Baseball's 25 most influential people are listed in the current issue of BASEBALL AMERICA. For the fourth straight year, MLBPA Exec Dir Don Fehr tops the list. In a sidebar, Peter Gammons writes on MLB's efforts to name a new commissioner. Although Acting Commissioner Bud Selig would like to stay in office, "that won't happen without a fight." One NL Owner: "We like Bud, we know he always has the best interest of baseball in mind and we know he is a very good person, but he can not continue." Gammons writes NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol "would be a perfect choice," and "some have suggested that they [MLB] take a blank checkbook to NBA commissioner David Stern or NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. " It has "even been suggested" that MLB Enterprises President Greg Murphy run the business side and that former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley "be persuaded by Padres president and former teammate Larry Lucchino to take the job." (BASEBALL AMERICA, 1/20 issue).
| RANK | NAME | TITLE |
| 1 | Don Fehr | Exec Dir/MLBPA |
| 2 | Bud Selig | Acting Commissioner/CEO Brewers |
| 3 | Jerry Reinsdorf | Chair/White Sox |
| 4 | Dick Ebersol | President/NBC Sports |
| | Rupert Murdoch | Chair & CEO/Fox |
| | Steve Bornstein | Pres & CEO/ESPN, Pres/ABC Sports |
| 5 | Greg Murphy | CEO/MLB Enterprises |
| 6 | Paul Beeston | President & CEO/Blue Jays |
| 7 | Ken Griffey, Jr. | Outfielder/Mariners |
| 8 | Jerry McMorris | President & CEO/Rockies |
| 9 | Ted Turner | Vice Chair/Time Warner, Chair/Braves |
| 10 | Alan & Randy Hendricks | Agents |
| 11 | John Harrington | CEO/Red Sox |
| 12 | Dave Montgomery | General Partner & COO/Phillies |
| 13 | Jim Bronner & Bob Gilhooley | Agents |
| 14 | George Steinbrenner | Owner/Yankees |
| 15 | Andy MacPhail | President/Cubs |
| 16 | Albert Belle | Outfielder/White Sox |
| 17 | Gene Orza | Associate General Counsel/MLBPA |
| 18 | Jerry Colangelo | Managing General Partner/D'Backs |
| 19 | Sandy Alderson | President/Athletics |
| 20 | Peter Gammons | Boston Globe columnist/ESPN analyst |
| 21 | Peter O'Malley | Owner/Dodgers |
| 22 | Tony Tavares | President/Anaheim Sports Inc. |
| 23 | Alex Rodriguez | Shortstop/Mariners |
| 24 | Dennis Gilbert | Agent |
| 25 | Randy Levine | Labor Negotiator/MLB |
