January 2015 marked the beginning of Rob Manfred’s era at the helm of the world’s best baseball league, MLB. He had the difficult task of filling the void left by Bud Selig, who served as the league’s commissioner for seven years (1998-2015). This required an indomitable character, and Manfred has shown it with the ban of Trevor Bauer.
With the assurance that he will remain in office until 2024, an extension that has already been signed and announced since November 2018, Manfred has been free to act as he sees fit despite the controversies his actions have generated in MLB, such as when he influenced the pace of play after reducing the time of commercial breaks or limiting player visits to the pitcher’s mound.
The management of the 63-year-old New York native has not been easy, as he has faced strong turbulences, such as the Covid 19 pandemic, until the lockout of the 2021-2022 season, a situation that had not occurred since the 1994-1995 cycle and that left the world with the uncertainty of being able to stay a long time without the excitement of the MLB for a few months.
Banned under commissioner Rob Manfred
It may well be a mere coincidence, a coincidence, or a consequence of Manfred’s way of proceeding, but during his tenure he has surpassed the number of banned individuals that Bud Selig, Fay Vincent, A. Bartlett Giamantti and Bowie Kuhn had.
Thus, only during the period as commissioners of Kenesaw Mountain Landis and during the period with no one in this position, which has been in place since 1920, were there more bannings than there have been with Rob Manfred. This is the list of people who cannot have any relationship with MLB since Manfred’s tenure as commissioner, not including players suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, which includes 29 individuals.
Chris Correa
The former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals was banned in 2017 for hacking into the Houston Astros‘ database and providing it to his team. Correa was subsequently jailed for 3 years for the crime of unauthorized access to a private individual’s computer equipment.
John Coppolella
Coppolella served as general manager of the Atlanta Braves from October 2015 until his banned in 2017, after joining the team in 2006 as director of baseball operations, due to his violation of MLB rules regarding the signing and hiring of international free agents.
Brandon Taubman
He fulfilled his dream of working in the MLB by being hired by the Houston Astros in 2013 after applying through an ad posted on FanGraphs. However, his idyll with baseball was relatively short-lived when he was banned in 2019 for uttering inappropriate comments to female journalists.
Roberto Alomar
A former MLB player who was even inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011. His suspension from commissioner Manfred’s administration in 2021 came after an independent investigation for harassing a female Toronto Blue Jays staff member in 2014.
Mickey Callaway
A leaked media article exposed Callaway’s sexual harassment behaviors throughout his MLB career, which included stints as pitching coach of the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels, as well as manager of the New York Mets.He was banned in March 2021.
Trevor Bauer
The longest ban sentence known so far and since the implementation of the domestic violence policy (324 games), which empowers the commissioner to suspend individuals who have committed such acts despite the lack of a conviction. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher was accused by a woman of physically and sexually assaulting her twice.