It's not difficult to understand why MLB turned to Peter Ueberroth as its sixth Commissioner when you look into his background. After successful ventures in the travel industry, Ueberroth served for five years as president and CEO of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, an organization responsible for staging and operating the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Under Ueberroth's leadership and management, the first privately financed Olympic Games resulted in a surplus of nearly $250 million! (They would have elected him for many additional years, had he not walked away from the position)

Ueberroth used his supreme management/negotiation skills early in his term to head off both an umpires' strike and a players' strike. He brought great financial stability to MLB. When Ueberroth took office, 21 of the 26 clubs were losing money; but in his last season (1988) all clubs either broke even or finished in the black. The main reason were huge television deals that he helped broker with CBS and ESPN.