Vital Statistics:
Born: Oct. 28, 1926 in Takoma Park, Md.
Died: March 15, 2007
Teams: Commissioner of Major League Baseball (1969-84)
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2008
Career Highlights:
- Was legal counsel for owners for becoming commissioner in 1969, and presided over the acrimonious period in baseball when the players' organized into a strong union and work stoppages in 1972 and 1981.
- An opponent of free agency, Kuhn was perceived as a mouthpiece of owners and was outdueled in negotiations repeatedly by Players Association leader Marvin Miller.
- On the positive side, attendance boomed when Kuhn was commissioner and the influence of television money became evident. Kuhn was the first commissioner to hold night World Series games.
After Baseball:
- After his term expired, he returned to the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and assumed presidency of the Kent Group, a business, sports and financial consulting firm. He later partnered in a different law firm that went bankrupt.
- He was active in Catholic charities and served on boards of several companies.
