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Bowie Kent Kuhn (born October 28 , 1926 in Takoma Park, Maryland ) was Commissioner Of Major League Baseball from February 4 , 1969 to September 30 , 1984 . For almost 20 years, he served as legal counsel for Major League Baseball owners prior to his election as commissioner. EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Long before he worked for Major League Baseball, Kuhn grew up in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School. He then attended Franklin And Marshall College in the Naval V-12 Officer Training Program before going to Princeton University in 1945 . He graduated from Princeton with honors in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He then received his law degree in 1950 from the University Of Virginia where he served on the editorial board of the law review. Following his graduation from law school, Kuhn became a member of the New York law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, chosen because it represented the National League . While working in baseball's legal affairs, Kuhn served as a counselor for the National League in a lawsuit brought against it by the City of Milwaukee when the Braves moved to Atlanta. After the owners forced out William Eckert in 1968 , Kuhn seemed like a logical replacement for the job of commissioner. He, unlike Eckert, was very aware of the inner workings of Major League Baseball before taking office. ACTIONS AS COMMISSIONER 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 (from 23 million in 1968 to 45.5 million in 1983 ) and Television Contracts during the same time frame. Kuhn suspended numerous players for drug involvement and barred both Willie Mays (in 1979 ) and Mickey Mantle (in 1983) from the sport due to their involvement in casino promotion; both were reinstated (by Kuhn's successor Peter Ueberroth ) in 1985 . In 1970 , Kuhn described Jim Bouton 's '' Ball Four '' as "detrimental to baseball" and demanded that Bouton retract it. On October 13 , 1971 , the World Series held a night game for the very first time. Kuhn, felt 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. See Also: MLB on NBC Charles O. Finley Though he had a reputation as an owners' commissioner, Kuhn did not avoid confronting owners when he deemed it necessary. For example, 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 affadavit 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' teammates as well as manager Dick Williams rallied to his defense. Kuhn in return, 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. Hank Aaron At the start of the 1974 season, Kuhn inadvertantly got into the middle of a small controversy. It was during Hank Aaron 's pursuit of the all-time career home run record. 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 . Therefore, they were 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 end result was that Aaron tied Babe Ruth 's record in his very first at bat, but did not hit another home run in the series. Kuhn's war on drugs After being in office for over ten years, Bowie 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. St. Louis Cardinals 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 , Kuhn was on hand to congratulate him. In 1980 , during the Iranian Hostage Crisis Kuhn sat at a baseball game with Jeremiah Denton , a Navy admiral and former POW in Vietnam . 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. {Link without Title} In 1983 , four players from the Kansas City Royals - Willie Wilson , Jerry Martin , Willie Mays Aikens , and Vida Blue - were found guilty of Cocaine use. In addition, such established stars as Ferguson Jenkins , Keith Hernandez , Dave Parker , and Dale Berra admitted to having problems with drugs. Leaving office Bowie Kuhn was both praised and attacked for the firm stand that he levied against offenders. In 1982 , some of the owners organized a move to push him out of office. In 1983, Kuhn and his supporters made a last-ditch effort to renew his contract but ultimately failed. Kuhn, though, was allowed to stay for the 1984 regular season before being replaced by Peter Ueberroth. Life after baseball Following baseball, Kuhn returned to his law practice and assumed presidency of the Kent Group, a business, sports and financial consulting firm. He also became an adviser and board member for Domino's Pizza and Ave Maria Foundation . Mr. Kuhn has been the Chairman of the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds since the inception of their first mutual fund, Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund, in May 2001 . During a telecast of the 2004 World Series , broadcaster Joe Buck announced that just prior to his 78th birthday, Bowie Kuhn was scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery. {Link without Title} RACIAL INSENSITIVITY A number of observers complained about Kuhn's apparent insensitivity (or worse) on race-related matters:
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