Mark Attanasio was as surprised as anyone reading the news clips over the weekend.
The Milwaukee Brewers principal owner’s phone was flooded with messages Sunday after a report from Bob Nightengale of USA Today indicated that he was a prime candidate of other owners to become the commissioner of Major League Baseball in the not-too-distant future.
“There is no clear-cut favorite to become MLB commissioner after Rob Manfred retires in Jan. 2029, but several owners say they plan to push for owner Mark Attanasio of the Milwaukee Brewers to be his successor,” wrote USA Today.
Speaking with local media Monday prior to the Brewers home opener at American Family Field one day after the report, Attanasio was asked if he would consider becoming commissioner and relinquishing his role as owner.
“I got a number of people who sent me that tweet from Bob Nightengale, and I was tempted to call Bob and say, ‘Well, who's telling you this?’” Attanasio said. “Because I haven't had any conversations of the sort. My family and I love owning the team. It's a generational asset set for us. You'll see today, some years, we bring folks out to the field, about 40 family members here. I just love what I'm doing.”
So, not a firm no. But the head man of the Brewers certainly toed that line.
“Never had a conversation (about it),” he said.
Attanasio did, though, reveal an enlightening anecdote: He did interview for the commissioner job before it went to Manfred in 2015.
“I was interviewed when they were going through a process where Rob was clearly the right choice,” Attanasio said. “And I remember I said to the committee, ‘You know, I have no intention of selling the team.’ (They said), ‘Well, you have to interview anyway.’ So I showed up for the meeting.
“The first questioner says, ‘Well, why do you think you can do this job and not sell the team?’ I said, ‘Well, I didn't say that.’ I said that I would not sell the team. ‘Well, don't you think it's a conflict? I said, ‘Yeah, I think it's probably a conflict. But you all asked me to come in.’”
Attanasio could not own the Brewers and be commissioner of the league at the same time, but there is precedent for Milwaukee’s owner taking over as commissioner while keeping the team within his family. When Bud Selig became commissioner in 1998, his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb took over as the team’s owner.
It was Attanasio that bought the team after that, becoming the Brewers’ principal owner beginning in 2005.
Attanasio has made it clear in the past that he has no intentions of ever selling the team, instead preferring to pass it off to his two sons.
