Election day but will someone be elected commissioner?

It would be redundant to mention that the voters for commissioner are white guys who are almost all old.  No blacks, Asians, whatever.  No women.  They are the owners of the 30 Major Baseball League (MBL) franchises.  Some teams are owned by groups.  I think the Dodgers are owned by a group, which includes Magic Johnson, basketball hall of fame player.  If Magic is at the owners meeting in Baltimore now, I have not heard about it.

The search committee to find a successor to 22 year incumbent commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig didn't search very far.  Two of the three candidates are MBL executives in their mid-50s and the other is a non-majority owner of the Boston Red Sox in his mid-60s who is in the television hall of fame.  Only if they are in extreme deadlock will the owners look beyond these three, which will likely mean that the decision will be postponed to a future meeting.

That's OK since there's way more time between now and when the commissioner-elect would take over in January 2015 than between a U.S. presidential election the first week of November and when the winner would take office in January of the following year.

Who votes for what in baseball?

Commissioner: owners

Player awards: writers

Hall of Fame: writers

Writers Hall of Fame award: writers

Starting players on All Star teams: fans

That pretty much tells us how important we fans are.

The voting process for commissioner is all pretty vague.  Supposedly they break up into three groups of ten owners, then re-convene and vote.  It's unclear if votes are secret.  If not secret, it's unknown if there is a set order of voting or whether there is further discussion.  The three candidates supposedly made 50 minute presentations yesterday and answered questions.  Then last evening the owners, candidates and some team executives attended the Orioles victory over the Yankees.

Surprise! Vote on new commissioner is tomorrow! Do we fans get to vote?  Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Old style mechanical New York State voting machine with curtain that is drawn shut with the red lever to activate.