Robert D. Manfred, Jr. was elected as the 10th Commissioner in the history of Major League Baseball on August 14, 2014 by vote of the 30 Major League Clubs. He officially became the sport's leader on January 25, 2015.
Since beginning as Commissioner, MLB has produced a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, continuing the sport's unprecedented era of 26 consecutive years of labor peace through 2021, and a landmark transaction in which The Walt Disney Company acquired a 75% stake in BAMTech, a leading technology services and video streaming company created by MLB. Manfred's goals for the industry include the expansion of youth participation, international growth, improved pace of game, the infusion of technology into the game, increased marketing of the game's young stars and furtherance of the game's diversity goals. Manfred has made strategic decisions across technology, sponsorship and the youth sports space that aim to reach and better align the sport with young fans.
Manfred has overseen the development of closer relationships with youth baseball and softball organizations and has allocated new resources toward improving MLB's presence in the amateur ranks. He began MLB's signature youth participation program, PLAY BALL, a partnership with USA Baseball and USA Softball that encourages both traditional and casual play. Manfred has prioritized sustaining the game's international growth. In 2016, MLB returned to Cuba for the first time since 1999 as the Tampa Bay Rays played an historic exhibition game vs. the Cuban National Team on March 22nd at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, jointly attended by President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro. MLB has scheduled regular season games in Puerto Rico and Mexico in 2018 and a series in London in 2019, which will be the sport's first games ever played in Europe. Under Manfred's leadership, MLB has also taken the game to non-traditional domestic locations with groundbreaking events in recent seasons at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series.
Prior to being elected Commissioner, Manfred had served as MLB's Chief Operating Officer since 2013, managing the Commissioner's Office in New York on behalf of Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. From 1998-2013, Manfred served as Executive Vice President, overseeing labor relations, economics, league affairs and human resources and directing all collective bargaining with the MLBPA. Manfred also represented MLB on all upgrades to the game's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the toughest in American professional sports.
Manfred is a 1980 graduate of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University. In 1983, he received his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an articles editor of the Harvard Law Review. Manfred was a part of the Labor and Employment Law Section of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, and became a partner in the firm in 1992.
Under Manfred's leadership, MLB has formed core partnerships with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Jackie Robinson Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer. Manfred has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sports Lawyers Association and the Partnership for Clean Competition. In April 2016, Manfred received the Judge William B. Groat Award from his alma mater, honoring outstanding professional achievement and service to Cornell's ILR. In November 2017, Manfred received the Jacob K. Javits Lifetime Achievement Award from the Greater New York Chapter of the ALS Association for MLB's efforts against Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Born in 1958 in Rome, New York, Manfred and his wife Colleen have been married since 1982 and have four children.
