Businessman, baseball commissioner, and Olympics chairman, born in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He was both athletic and entrepreneurial from an early age, and after graduation from college he went on to become the operations manager and vice-president of the Trans International Airline (195962). He then formed his own company, Transportation Consultants International (196379). Invited in 1979 to head the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee, he used his marketing and business talents to turn the 1984 games into a self-supporting event, and was named 1984 Man of the Year by Time. He became commissioner of baseball, but soon became disenchanted by his inability to have a decisive impact on affairs, and in 1989, after one term, he stepped aside and went back to the private business world. In the wake of the Los Angeles riots (1992), he headed a task force of public and private institutions determined to remove the economic and social causes of such episodes, an assignment even more frustrating than dealing with the owners of major-league baseball teams.
Growing up
Although Ueberroth was born in Evanston, Illinois, he grew up in Northern California. While attending Fremont Union High School, Ueberroth excelled in football, baseball, and swimming. After graduating from high school, Ueberroth attended San José State University on an athletic scholarship.
Trans International Airlines
After college, Ueberroth became a vice president and shareholder in Trans International Airlines (he was 22 years old at the time). Ueberroth worked at Trans International until 1963, when he founded his own travel company, which would become First Travel Corporation.
The 1984 Olympics
For five years Ueberroth served as the organizer of the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, California. Under Ueberroth's leadership and management, the first privately financed Olympic Games resulted in a surplus of nearly $250 million.
Baseball Commissioner
Ueberroth was elected to succeed Bowie Kuhn on March 3, 1984 and took office on October 1 of that year.
Just as Ueberroth was taking office the Major League Umpires Union was threatening to strike the postseason. The next summer, Ueberroth worked behind the scenes to limit a players' strike to one day before a new labor agreement was worked out with the Players Association.
During the course of his stint as commissioner, Ueberroth reinstated Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who had been banned from working for Major League Baseball by Kuhn because of their associations with gambling casinos, facilitated collusion, suspended numerous players because of cocaine use, negotiated a $1.2 billion television contract with CBS, and initiated the investigation against Pete Rose's betting habits. Ueberroth then found a new source of income in the form of persuading large corporations to pay for the privilege of having their products endorsed by Major League Baseball.
Under Ueberroth, Major League Baseball enjoyed increased attendance (record attendance four straight seasons), greater awareness of crowd control and alcohol management within ballparks, a successful and vigilant anti-drug campaign, significant industry-wide improvement in the area of fair employment, and a significantly improved financial picture for the industry.
Post-Baseball activities
Before the start of the 1989 regular season, Ueberroth stepped down as commissioner even though his term wasn't scheduled to end until October of that year.
In 1999, Ueberroth along with Arnold Palmer and Clint Eastwood bought the Pebble Beach golf course.
Ueberroth ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election as an independent, though he was a registered Republican. Mr. Ueberroth is an investor and chairman of the Contrarian Group, Inc., a business management company, and has held this position since 1989.
Ueberroth is also the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors.
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Preceded by: Bowie Kuhn |
Commissioner of Baseball 1984–1989 |
Succeeded by: Bart Giamatti |
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