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Bud Selig ‘grateful’ that Tom Schieffer has agreed to oversee Dodgers

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Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig confirmed Monday that Tom Schieffer will oversee the Dodgers, calling the former Texas Rangers president a ‘monitor’ responsible for the club’s business and finance operations.

In his statement, Selig noted that Schieffer would oversee the Dodgers and ‘all of the franchise’s related entities.’ Owner Frank McCourt has separated the Dodgers as a business entity from Dodger Stadium and the surrounding land, but he has funneled revenues generated by the Dodgers toward those other entities.

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Selig’s statement:

Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today that he has appointed J. Thomas Schieffer, the former president of the Texas Rangers, as the Monitor of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. Schieffer will represent the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball in the oversight of the day-to-day operations, business and finances of the Dodgers and all of the franchise’s related entities.

Schieffer, an investor in the ownership group headed by George W. Bush and Rusty Rose that purchased the Rangers in 1989, was the club president from 1991-1999 and the franchise’s general partner from November 1994 until June 1998. The Fort Worth native was the club’s partner in charge of ballpark development in advance of the 1994 opening of The Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers won their first three American League West titles (1996, 1998-1999) in club history in the years during Schieffer’s tenure.

As the president of the Rangers, Schieffer was a member of several significant Major League Baseball committees and boards, including the 1999 Blue Ribbon Task Force on Baseball Economics. An attorney who specialized in oil and gas matters and investment management, the 63-year-old Schieffer served three terms as a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives after being elected at the age of 25.

Schieffer served as the United States Ambassador to Australia from 2001-2005 and then as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2005-2009 under President George W. Bush. In 2009, Schieffer was honored by the Department of Defense with its Distinguished Public Service Medal, the U.S. military’s highest civilian award.

Commissioner Selig said: “We are very fortunate to have someone of Tom Schieffer’s stature monitor the operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers on behalf of Major League Baseball. Tom is a distinguished public servant who has represented the nation with excellence and has demonstrated extraordinary leadership throughout his career. The many years that he spent managing the operations of a successful franchise will benefit the Dodgers and Major League Baseball as a whole. I am grateful for Tom’s acceptance of this role.”

-- Bill Shaikin

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