[msb-alumni] Gene Budig, 84, Who Led M.L.B.'s American League After an Academic Career Died on September 8, 2020
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:46:07 -0400
BlankGene Budig, 84, Who Led M.L.B.'s American League After an Academic Career.
By
Richard Sandomir.
After a distinguished academic career, he brought his love of baseball to a
position
that he considered a dream job -- but that was eliminated five years later.
Gene
Budig, the soft-spoken former chancellor of the University of Kansas who in
1994
became the final president of baseball's American League, died on Tuesday at
his home
in Charleston, S.C. He was 81 . His wife, Gretchen Budig, said the cause was
complications of fatty liver disease.
Dr. Budig (pronounced BYOO-dig) did not expect to be the last to hold his
position
(nor did Leonard Coleman Jr., his National League counterpart). The job, which
included supervising umpires, disciplining players and owners and arranging
schedules, was created in 1901 when Ban Johnson founded the American League and
became its first president.
But in 1999, five years after his appointment, Major League Baseball owners
voted to
eliminate the league presidents and fold their functions under Commissioner Bud
Selig. That left Dr. Budig and Mr. Coleman jobless.
Dr. Budig, a Yankee fan since childhood, was disappointed.
"He loved that job -- it was his dream job," his daughter Kathryn Budig said in
an
email.
Dr. Budig championed diversity and hired Larry Doby, the first Black player in
the
American League, as his special assistant in 1995. "Larry Doby is a historic
figure,
a treasure who deserves to be remembered," Dr. Budig told The New York Times
shortly
after naming him to the position. "This appointment will call attention to his
contributions. He will provide unique insights."
Dr. Budig also took his disciplinary duties seriously. In 1998, he imposed a
five-game suspension on Mike Stanton, a relief pitcher for the Yankees, for
hitting
Eric Davis of the Baltimore Orioles with a pitch. George M. Steinbrenner, the
Yankees' owner, responded angrily. "I'm not sure what Dr. Budig's experience
is,"
said Mr. Steinbrenner, who had clashed several times with Dr. Budig but later
became
friendly with him. "But I'm not sure when the last time he wore a jockstrap
was."
Dr. Budig, who was known for his reserve, did not reciprocate with similar
thunder.
Instead, he asked someone at the athletic department at Kansas to send him the
largest jockstrap the department had, which he autographed and shipped to Mr.
Steinbrenner.
"Gene always fought his adversaries with a subtle wit," Mr. Coleman said in an
interview.
Gene Arthur Budig was born on May 25, 1939, in Lincoln, Neb., and raised in
McCook,
in the western part of the state. His birth parents gave him up to an orphanage
and
he was adopted by Arthur Budig, an auto mechanic, and Angela (Schaff) Budig, a
nurse
who worked at the hospital where Gene was born.
When he was 12, Gene sent a letter to Bill Veeck, the maverick owner of the St.
Louis
Browns, asking to try out for the team after learning that Mr. Veeck had once
sent
the 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit as a gag.
"He said, "I'm pretty good at second base. Can I come for a tryout?" Mrs. Budig
said
in an interview.
"Bill wrote back and said, "Sure, when you get out of high school. Gene never
tried
out for Mr. Veeck, with whom he later became friends."
But he played for his high school team and at the University of Texas, Austin,
during
his only semester there. He graduated from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
in
1962 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and remained there to earn a
master's in
English and a doctorate in education.
After holding various jobs at the university, including assistant vice
chancellor and
assistant vice president, Dr. Budig left for Illinois State University in 1972
as a
vice president, dean and professor of educational administration. He was named
president the next year. In 1977 he was hired as president of West Virginia
University. He left four years later when he was appointed chancellor at
Kansas,
where he remained until 1994.
While there, he oversaw the construction of several buildings and helped secure
an
$18 million state grant to rebuild Hoch Auditorium, which had burned down in
1991 and
was renamed Budig Hall in 1997. He also approved the hiring of two high-profile
men's
basketball coaches: Larry Brown in 1983 and Roy Williams in 1988.
By 1994, Dr. Budig had become known in baseball circles as a member of the
board of
the Kansas City Royals. He was chosen that year to replace Dr. Bobby Brown, a
former
Yankee infielder, as American League president.
He followed another academic in baseball's hierarchy, A. Bartlett Giamatti, who
had
left the presidency of Yale to become the National League president in 1986 and
was
named baseball commissioner three years later.
After the league presidencies were eliminated in 1999, Dr. Budig worked briefly
as an
adviser to Mr. Selig; taught a course, "The Business of Sport and the Public
Trust,"
at Princeton University; and served on the advisory board of the Pinstripe
Bowl, a
postseason college football game played at Yankee Stadium.
In 2007, after moving to South Carolina, he acquired a large minority stake in
the
Charleston RiverDogs, a low-level minor-league affiliate of the Yankees.
In addition to his wife, Gretchen (Van Bloom) Budig, whom he married in 1963,
and his
daughter Kathryn, Dr. Budig is survived by another daughter, Mary Frances
Budig; a
son, Christopher; a sister, Mary Ann Myers; a brother, Richard; and five
grandchildren.
When Dr. Budig left Kansas to run the American League, there were some doubts
about
his decision. The Kansas City Star criticized him for leaving serious work to
manage
athletes. And on his third day as league president, Mr. Steinbrenner told him
that he
was overqualified. 'I heard that quite often,' Dr. Budig told Yankees Magazine
in
2020. 'It was like a lot of people thought I was wasting my life. And, God, far
from
it.
Other related posts:
- » [msb-alumni] Gene Budig, 84, Who Led M.L.B.'s American League After an Academic Career Died on September 8, 2020 - Steve
