RIP, Bowie Kuhn

<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=350,height=277,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/kuhn_williams_nixon_top.jpg”><img title=”Kuhn_williams_nixon_top” height=”118″ alt=”Kuhn_williams_nixon_top” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/kuhn_williams_nixon_top.jpg” width=”149″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a><a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/sports/baseball/16kuhn.html”> Bowie Kuhn</a> passed away yesterday at the age of 80. For some reason, he makes me think of Richard Nixon. Probably because he held office at the same time as the President and looked so Republican.

Kuhn never seems to have received the respect he deserved. He served during some of the game’s most tumultuous years (1969-84). While he was in office, baseball went through major transitions and issues, including expansion, drug scandals, contentious owners (although every commissioner probably had to deal with his share of those, Kuhn’s with Charlie O. Finley and Ted Turner were particularly entertaining), free agency, and labor unrest.

He had to deal with the likes of Denny McClain, whom he suspended for a year, <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=152,height=259,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/tnhardball.jpg”><img title=”Tnhardball” height=”255″ alt=”Tnhardball” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/tnhardball.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a> invoking the catch-all "in the interests of the game" (gambling, behavior towards sportswriters, etc.) and also booted the beloved WIllie Mays, who sought work at a casino once his playing days were over. Kuhn’s explanations are thoughtful, althought not always rational, depending on your perceptions of events.

Shortly after leaving office, Kuhn wrote about experiences in Hardball: The Education of a Baseball Commissioner (originally published in 1987 by Times Books). It’s a fascinating, if sometimes overly verbose, account of his work in and out of the game.

Like him or not, Kuhn was at the helm when baseball fell and was revived, transitioning the game from "old-school flannel" to "modern polyester."

<a href=”http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2799887″>ESPN’s obituary</a>, along with a <a href=”http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2800317″>sampling of quotes about Kuhn</a>.

<a href=”http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/03/15/miller.kuhn/index.html”>A column by Jon Heyman</a> from SI.com.