Rob Manfred Still The Leading Candidate To Succeed Bud Selig As MLB Commissioner

MLB teams will vote next week to determine the successor to Commissioner Bud Selig when he retires next year, but the "most recent unofficial count" gives MLB COO Rob Manfred the support of 20, Red Sox Chair Tom Werner five and MLB Exec VP/Business Tim Brosnan none, according to sources cited by baseball writer Murray Chass. To be elected, a candidate must gain 23 votes.

JERRY'S WORLD: In N.Y., Mike Lupica writes Reinsdorf has "attempted to hijack the process as a way of trying to stop" Manfred. Reinsdorf does "not do this in the best interests of baseball, he has no idea what those really are, just the best interests of Reinsdorf." Lupica: "Smart people who actually care about the future of baseball ... know that the game and its immediate future are best served by Manfred succeeding Selig the way Roger Goodell succeeded Paul Tagliabue and the way Adam Silver has now, seamlessly and forcefully, succeeded David Stern." Only Reinsdorf "doesn’t see it that way." Reinsdorf is "still fighting old insane labor wars" against former MLBPA Exec Dirs Marvin Miller and Donald Fehr. Werner will "never get to 23 votes no matter how many ballots there are" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/8).

NO FUN LEAGUE? In Boston, Steve Buckley writes MLB sometimes is "sorely lacking in the fun department, which is why the game’s next commissioner needs to be somebody who puts 'fun' at the top of the to-do list." Too many games "are slow, plodding, tiresome affairs" and "nobody’s doing anything about it." Buckley: "The main reason I have not dismissed Tom Werner’s candidacy for commissioner -- and, in fact, have been intrigued by it -- is that the Red Sox chairman has a long and successful career in the 'fun' department." This is "not a plea for MLB’s owners to insert" Werner as commissioner, but is a "plea for those owners to think less about revenue streams and TV deals and more about the game itself" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/8).