Peter Ueberroth Biography by Baseball Almanac

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth Biography

Peter Ueberroth was born on September 2, 1937 and started serving as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball on March 3, 1984. Four years later his reign as commissioner ended. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present our Commissioner Peter Ueberroth biography.

"It is unfortunate that he did not seem to have the deep attachment to the game itself that would have motivated him to stay on. It is probable that he never envisioned his role in baseball as more than a temporary one." - Lee MacPhail in My Nine Innings (1989)

Birth Name:	Peter Victor Ueberroth	Bats:	n/a
Born On:	09-02-1937	Throws:	n/a
Born In:	Evanston, Illinois	Height:	Unknown
Died On:	Still Living	Weight:	Unknown
Died In:	n/a	First Game:	n/a
College:	San Jose State University in California	Last Game:	n/a
Nickname:	None	Draft:	n/a

Unlike several other commissioners, Peter Ueberroth had an extensive background in both professional and international sports. After lettering in football, baseball and swimming, he was accepted to San Jose State University on an athletic scholarship and lettered in water polo. In 1956, he tried out for the United States Olympic team but was unable to make the cut. Disappointed, he returned to school and completed his education in 1959 with a degree in business. Following his graduation, Ueberroth went on to the travel industry and eventually became a vice president and shareholder in Trans International Airlines at the tender age of twenty-two. He continued to excel at Trans International until 1963 when he founded his own travel company, First Travel Corporation that he later sold in 1980 when it was the second largest travel business in North America.

Always an athlete at heart, Ueberroth went on to serve as President and Chief Eexecutive Officer of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee responsible for staging and operating the 1984 Games. A tremendously successful planner, his management led to a post-event surplus of nearly $250 million, which was used to support national youth sports activities.

In 1984, during a huge Major League Baseball labor conflict (in which the Umpires Union threatened to strike the post-season) Ueberroth was elected commissioner by a unanimous vote of the twenty-six club owners. Immediately after taking office, he was able to arbitrate the disagreement and had the umpires back to work before the League Championship Series had ended. He was also able to act behind the scenes to limit a players' strike to one day before a new labor agreement was worked out with the Players Association.

Before leaving office, Ueberroth was able to compile an amazing legacy in which he was able to establish greater awareness of crowd control and alcohol management within ballparks, a successful and vigilant anti-drug campaign, an ever-increasing attendance record and Major League Baseball's first profitable year since 1973. His last task was the negotiation and agreement of a whopping four-year, $1.1 billion contract with CBS, and a four-year $400 million national cable deal with ESPN. Deciding not to seek a second term, Ueberroth helped promote the election of his replacement, A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Peter Ueberroth Biography

Did you know that Baseball Almanac has a comprehensive biography on file for every Commissioner of Major League Baseball? Take a moment, review each biography, and learn more about the men who have actually been called the "Second Most Powerful Men in America".

Peter Ueberroth was extremely wealthy and in 1995, six years after he left the office of the Commissioner, he and an investment group made an effort to buy a controlling interest of the California Angels.

When Ueberroth took office in1984, twenty-one of the twenty-six baseball teams were losing money. When Ueberroth's left the office in 1988, every baseball team had either broke even or finished in the black.