Major League Baseball has a new commissioner — its 10th ever — in the form of the league’s current COO, Rob Manfred.
The 55-year-old Manfred succeeds Bud Selig in the top role. Selig ran MLB for 22 years and will retire in January 2015.
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Manfred was elected in a second vote by owners Thursday, the final day of the quarterly owners meetings. In doing so, he beat out Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner and MLB executive vice president of business, Tim Brosnan, who withdrew before the first vote, according to media reports.
In the earlier vote — also on Thursday — Manfred earned 22 votes, falling one shy of the requisite 23 (representing 75 percent of the teams). The second time around, Manfred won unanimously, team owners told The Associated Press.
Manfred previously worked with the league as outside counsel, and directly joined in 1998. He became MLB’s chief operating officer in Sept. 2013.
A press conference of the appointment streamed on MLB.com, and the league announced the news on Twitter on Thursday.