WHO'S NEWS
October 21, 2003
Peter Ueberroth, former Major League Baseball commissioner
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Peter Ueberroth was commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984-89. In 1984, he was Time Magazine's Person of the Year.
TFK: What does it mean for a player to reach the World Series?
Ueberroth: It's the ultimate honor. There are literally hundreds of minor leagues. To be in the World Series is to be on baseball's highest stage.
TFK: What's the most exciting part of the World Series for you?
Ueberroth: To me it's that there's always a new hero, a new superstar, in the post-season. Last week it was Aaron Boone, for example. (Boone hit the game-winning home that beat the Red Sox and put the Yankees in this year's World Series.)
In the World Series, everybody gets on stage. Sometimes there's a goat and sometimes there's a superstar.
TFK: What does it mean for baseball to have the Yankees reach the World Series again this year?
Ueberroth: When you talk about the Yankees, the word 'dynasty' comes to mind. There's an aura that comes with being a part of the Yankees or playing against the Yankees. It's always special.
For them to be in the World Series is wonderful for baseball. But this commissioner (Ueberroth himself) was rooting for Boston and Chicago. It's been a long time since they were in the Series.
TFK: Were you a ballplayer?
Ueberroth: I played when I was younger, but the official 'Little League' wasn't invented back then. I played in youth leagues, though, and in high school. I was a third baseman and a catcher.
TFK: What is special about baseball among American sports?
Ueberroth: You see each play very clearly, whereas in football, unless it's a pass, you just see a blur of what the players are doing. You can't tell what the linemen are doing. In baseball, it's a team game, but it's all about individual performances. A batter is batting, a pitcher is pitching.
Another difference between baseball and other sports is the umpires. The umpires are a very important part of the game, and participate all the time, on every pitch. In every play that happens, the umpires make a decision.
In other sports, they only enter in when someone makes a foul or does something against the rules.
And in baseball almost everybody in the stands has done what they're watching, they've swung a bat, caught a ball, or played in some form of the game.
TFK: How has baseball changed since you were commissioner in the 1980s?
Ueberroth: It has become a more international game, with Japanese players, Australian, and players from all of the Caribbean countries.
