MIAMI (AFP) — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said on Thursday he will step down when his current contract expires in January 2029.
Manfred became MLB’s 10th commissioner in 2015, elected to replace Bud Selig, and received a contract extension last July.
“You can only have so much fun in one lifetime,” Manfred told reporters in Tampa, Florida, during New York Yankees pre-season training ahead of next month’s start of the 2024 MLB campaign.
“I’m 65. I just started a five-year term. Do that math. I’m going to be 70 years old… this is going to be my last term.”
Manfred, whose tenure would be 14 seasons after 2028, said he had been open with MLB team owners about his plans to leave following the 2028 season before they approved his extension.
Before taking charge, Manfred was MLB’s chief operating officer and negotiated for club owners with the players union to hammer out collective bargaining agreements.
Manfred has seen MLB through major changes and controversies during his tenure, including pitch clocks introduced last year, an expansion of the MLB playoffs and granting immunity to players during an investigation of the Houston Astros 2017 and 2018 sign-stealing scandal.
He navigated MLB through a labor dispute with players that delayed the start of the season but saw all teams play a full 162-game schedule.
Manfred last year revived the World Baseball Classic, where top-level talent competes for national teams, and has watched over the Oakland A’s planned move to Las Vegas.
