Bowie Kent Kuhn (/ˈbuːi ˈkjuːn/; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984.

He served as legal counsel for Major League Baseball owners for almost 20 years prior to his election as commissioner.

[8] Kuhn suspended numerous players for involvement with drugs and gambling, and took a strong stance against any activity that he perceived to be "not in the best interests of baseball".

[12] Kuhn, who thought that baseball could attract a larger audience by featuring a prime time telecast (as opposed to a mid-afternoon broadcast, when most fans either worked or attended school), pitched the idea to NBC.

In 1980, during the Iranian hostage crisis, Kuhn sat at a baseball game with Jeremiah Denton, a Navy admiral and former POW in Vietnam who would be elected U.S.

[15] On October 7, 1969, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood, catcher Tim McCarver, outfielder Byron Browne, and left-handed pitcher Joe Hoerner to the Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman Dick Allen, second baseman Cookie Rojas, and right-handed ace relief pitcher Jerry Johnson.

December 24, 1969 After twelve years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.

Flood's attorney, former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, asserted that the reserve clause depressed wages and limited players to one team for life.

Major League Baseball's counsel countered that Commissioner Kuhn acted in accordance with the rules, which were set up (and therefore his duty to uphold, in so many words) '"for the good of the game."

Finley forced player Mike Andrews to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured after the reserve infielder committed two consecutive errors in the 12th inning of Oakland's Game 2 loss to the New York Mets.

In 1976, when Finley attempted to sell several players to the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees for $3.5 million, Kuhn blocked the deals on the grounds that they would be bad for the game.

At the start of the 1974 season, Kuhn inadvertently got into the middle of a small controversy during Hank Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs.

Turner admitted that he had made remarks at a cocktail party about acquiring San Francisco Giants star Gary Matthews, at a time when Kuhn had ordered owners not to speak about potential free agents.

In 1977, Melissa Ludtke, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, sued Kuhn and the baseball commission for access to the locker room of the New York Yankees.

As a compromise, Kuhn established a committee to select the greatest Negro leaguers, to be honored with a display at the museum in Cooperstown.

"[26] Kuhn, in his autobiography, claimed that he "knew that the furor would be heard by the board of directors and that the public outcry would be hard to resist.

... Bowie Kuhn would have been a better friend to the Hall of Fame if he had led them to come to terms with their institutional racism in private, rather than leading them to expose it to the public.

Kansas City Royals catcher Darrell Porter told the Associated Press that during the winter of 1979–1980 he became paranoid, convinced that Kuhn knew about his drug abuse, was trying to sneak into his house, and planned to ban him from baseball for life.

Porter found himself sitting up at night in the dark watching out the front window, waiting for Kuhn to approach, clutching billiard balls and a shotgun.

[29] Ironically, when Porter was named the most valuable player of the 1982 World Series while playing for the Cardinals, Kuhn was on hand to congratulate him.

[30] In addition, such established stars as Ferguson Jenkins, Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, and other veteran players such as Dale Berra, admitted to having problems with drugs.

In July 2001, Kuhn appeared on an hour-long episode of The Journey Home,[35] in which he explained the role that his Catholic faith had played in his life and career.

During a telecast of the 2004 World Series, broadcaster Joe Buck announced that just prior to his 78th birthday, Kuhn was scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery.