His tenure was marked by labor
strikes (most notably in
1981), owner disenchantment, and the end of baseball's
reserve clause, yet baseball enjoyed unprecedented attendance gains (from 23 million in 1968 to 45.5 million in 1983) and
television contracts during the same time frame. Kuhn suspended numerous players for involvement with drugs and gambling, and took a strong stance against any activity that he perceived to be "not in the best interests of baseball". In 1970, he suspended star
Detroit Tigers pitcher
Denny McLain indefinitely (the suspension was later set at three months) due to McLain's involvement in a
bookmaking operation, and later suspended McLain for the rest of the season for carrying a gun. He barred both
Willie Mays (in 1979) and
Mickey Mantle (in 1983) from the sport due to their involvement in
casino promotion; neither was directly involved in gambling, and both were reinstated by Kuhn's successor
Peter Ueberroth in 1985. Also in 1970, Kuhn described
Jim Bouton's
Ball Four as "detrimental to baseball" and demanded that Bouton retract it. The book has been republished several times and is now considered a classic. On October 13,
1971, the
World Series held a
night game for the first time. Kuhn, who thought that baseball could attract a larger audience by featuring a
prime time telecast (as opposed to a mid-afternoon broadcast, when most fans either worked or attended school), pitched the idea to
NBC. An estimated 61 million people watched Game 4 on NBC; TV
ratings for a World Series game during the daytime hours would not have approached such a record number. Through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, weekday World Series games were played at night while most weekend games continued to be scheduled in the daytime. An exception came in
1976, when Game 2 was played on a Sunday night to avoid conflicts with NBC's
NFL coverage; Kuhn responded to criticism of the scheduling by attending the game, held at Cincinnati's
Riverfront Stadium, without an overcoat in spite of the chilly nighttime weather. Kuhn's primetime vision has been manifested, however, as all World Series games are now shown in prime time. In 1980, during the
Iranian hostage crisis, Kuhn sat at a baseball game with
Jeremiah Denton, a Navy admiral and former
POW in
Vietnam who would be elected U.S. Senator later that year from the state of
Alabama. Recalling the event to
The Washington Post, Kuhn believed that
"that afternoon...the idea of a lifetime baseball pass was discussed," and upon their return from Iran, each of the 52 hostages was given one of these unique passes.
Curt Flood On October 7, 1969, the
St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood, catcher
Tim McCarver, outfielder
Byron Browne, and left-handed pitcher
Joe Hoerner to the
Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman
Dick Allen, second baseman
Cookie Rojas, and right-handed ace relief pitcher
Jerry Johnson. However, Flood refused to report to the moribund Phillies, citing the team's poor record and the fact that they played in dilapidated
Connie Mack Stadium and played in front of
racist fans. Flood forfeited a relatively lucrative US$100,000 contract by his refusal to be traded to the Phillies. In a letter to Kuhn, Flood demanded that the commissioner declare him a
free agent.
Flood's letter to Kuhn December 24, 1969 Flood v. Kuhn Kuhn denied his request, citing the propriety of the
reserve clause, which was language in contracts that essentially prevented a player from playing with another team even after his contract expired. In response, Flood filed a lawsuit against Kuhn and Major League Baseball on January 16, 1970, alleging that Major League Baseball had violated federal
antitrust laws. Flood likened the reserve clause to
slavery. It was a controversial analogy, even among those who opposed the reserve clause. The case,
Flood v. Kuhn (407 U.S. 258) eventually went to the
Supreme Court. Flood's attorney, former Supreme Court Justice
Arthur Goldberg, asserted that the reserve clause depressed wages and limited players to one team for life. Major League Baseball's counsel countered that Commissioner Kuhn acted in accordance with the rules, which were set up (and therefore his duty to uphold, in so many words) '"for the good of the game." Ultimately, the Supreme Court, acting on
stare decisis "to stand by things decided", ruled 5–3 in favor of Major League Baseball, upholding a 1922 ruling in the case of
Federal Baseball Club v. National League, (259 U.S. 200).
Charles O. Finley Though he had a reputation as an owners' commissioner, Kuhn did not avoid confronting at least one owner whom he disliked. He was a major adversary of
Oakland Athletics owner
Charles O. Finley. A major embarrassment for baseball resulted from Finley's actions during the
1973 World Series. Finley forced player
Mike Andrews to sign a false
affidavit saying he was injured after the reserve infielder committed two consecutive
errors in the 12th inning of Oakland's Game 2 loss to the
New York Mets. Andrews's teammates as well as manager
Dick Williams rallied to his defense. Kuhn in response forced Finley to reinstate Andrews. In 1976, when Finley attempted to sell several players to the
Boston Red Sox and
New York Yankees for $3.5 million, Kuhn blocked the deals on the grounds that they would be bad for the game. Kuhn's decision may simply have been a revenge tactic aimed at Finley after he attempted to force an owners' vote to remove Kuhn as commissioner in 1975. Finley famously voiced his enmity towards Kuhn by calling him "the village idiot."
Hank Aaron At the start of the 1974 season, Kuhn inadvertently got into the middle of a small controversy during
Hank Aaron's pursuit of
Babe Ruth's record of 714 career
home runs. Aaron's
Atlanta Braves opened the season on the road in
Cincinnati with a three-game series against the
Cincinnati Reds. Braves management wanted him to break the record at home in
Atlanta and were therefore going to have Aaron sit out the first three games of the season. But Kuhn ruled that Aaron had to play two out of three. The result was that Aaron tied Ruth's record in his very first
at bat, but did not hit another home run in the series. Kuhn did not attend the game where Aaron broke the record, his excuse being a previously scheduled speaking engagement with the Wahoo (455 since 2023) Club, the
Cleveland Indians booster club.
Ted Turner In 1977, Kuhn battled the brash new owner of the
Atlanta Braves,
Ted Turner. Turner admitted that he had made remarks at a cocktail party about acquiring
San Francisco Giants star
Gary Matthews, at a time when Kuhn had ordered owners not to speak about potential free agents. Kuhn concluded that Turner's statement was not in the "best interest of baseball" and fined Turner, suspended him from baseball for one year, and penalized his club with the loss of a draft choice. Turner sued but both the trial and appellate courts refused to grant Turner relief, emphasizing the limited-extent of judicial review over baseball and the commissioner's office.
Melissa Ludtke case In 1977,
Melissa Ludtke, a reporter for
Sports Illustrated, sued Kuhn and the baseball commission for access to the locker room of the
New York Yankees. She was denied access to the
Yankees clubhouse during the
1977 World Series and asserted her
14th amendment right was violated. She won her suit. The court stated her fourteenth amendment right was violated since the
Yankees clubhouse was controlled by New York City. The court also stated that her fundamental right to pursue a career was violated based on her sex.
Race When baseball writers came out in support of inducting Negro league players into the
Hall of Fame, Kuhn supported recognizing the players in the Hall, but was unable to garner sufficient support from the Hall of Fame board of directors. As a compromise, Kuhn established a committee to select the greatest Negro leaguers, to be honored with a display at the museum in Cooperstown.
Satchel Paige was selected as the initial inductee for the Negro leagues display. The decision to honor the Negro leaguers with a separate exhibit received significant criticism. Sportswriter
Jim Murray of the
Los Angeles Times wrote, "They segregated the Hall of Fame! ... To have kept Satchel Paige from playing in the white leagues for 24 years and then bar him from the pearly gates on the grounds he didn't play the required 10 years [in the major leagues] is a shocking bit of insolent cynicism, a disservice to America. What is this – 1840? Either let him in the front of the hall – or move the damn thing to Mississippi."
Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, commented, "With another wing ... whatever good they've done, they've torn it down." Kuhn, in his autobiography, claimed that he "knew that the furor would be heard by the board of directors and that the public outcry would be hard to resist. That is exactly what happened." Bill James, in his book ''
The Politics of Glory: How Baseball's Hall of Fame Really Works'', wrote that Kuhn seemed "very proud of how he handled the affair, doing an end run around the Hall of Fame board of directors by exposing the Hall – and himself – to public criticism. Perhaps this does reflect some personal courage, and he was able to see that the right thing was done. But the Hall of Fame was also damaged. ... The message that got through to the public, loosely translated, was that the Hall of Fame was a racist institution. ... Bowie Kuhn would have been a better friend to the Hall of Fame if he had led them to come to terms with their
institutional racism in private, rather than leading them to expose it to the public."
Kuhn's war on drugs After being in office for over ten years, Kuhn had grown a strong reputation for being hard on players who
abused drugs. Kuhn was quick to punish players who used drugs with heavy fines and suspensions.
Kansas City Royals catcher
Darrell Porter told the
Associated Press that during the winter of 1979–1980 he became
paranoid, convinced that Kuhn knew about his drug abuse, was trying to sneak into his house, and planned to ban him from baseball for life. Porter found himself sitting up at night in the dark watching out the front window, waiting for Kuhn to approach, clutching billiard balls and a shotgun. Ironically, when Porter was named the most valuable player of the
1982 World Series while playing for the Cardinals, Kuhn was on hand to congratulate him. In 1983, four players from the
Kansas City Royals –
Willie Wilson,
Jerry Martin,
Willie Aikens, and
Vida Blue – were found guilty of
cocaine use. In addition, such established stars as
Ferguson Jenkins,
Keith Hernandez,
Dave Parker, and other veteran players such as
Dale Berra admitted to having problems with drugs. In 1980, during a customs search in
Toronto, Ferguson Jenkins was found possessing 3.0 grams
cocaine, 2.2 grams
hashish, and 1.75 grams
marijuana. In response, on September 8, Kuhn suspended him indefinitely. However, Jenkins' suspension lasted only two weeks before, in an unprecedented action, an independent arbiter reinstated him and he returned to the league. Jenkins was not further punished by MLB for the incident, as he remained active until his retirement following the 1983 season.
Leaving office Kuhn was both praised and attacked for the firm stand that he levied against offenders. However, his hardline stand on
PEDs and the
1981 strike caused most of the MLB owners to turn against him. In 1983, Kuhn and his supporters made a last-ditch effort to renew his contract but ultimately failed. The owners elected
Peter Ueberroth as the sixth Commissioner of Baseball, however since Ueberroth was serving at the time as president of the organizing committee for the
1984 Summer Olympics Kuhn was allowed to remain Commissioner for the 1984 regular season before leaving office. ==Life after baseball==