As it turns out, Rob Manfred has been a Yankees fan all along.
The MLB commissioner set the baseball world abuzz by sharing on Monday’s “Pardon My Take” show that he grew up a fan of the Bronx Bombers, and still watches them on a nightly basis.
“I watch a lot of baseball. I grew up a Yankee fan. I watch a lot of Yankee games, still,” Manfred said. “I try to balance that off with equal time with the Mets because I live in New York, but most nights I’m flipping between Yankees or Mets, and the Extra Innings package to follow what’s going on in the rest of the league.”
Manfred, 66, is from Rome, N.Y., near Utica, where he apparently sparked his fandom with the Yankees’ success in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Baseball fans immediately took to social media when they saw the news, with countless users cracking jokes about Manfred rigging the league for the Yankees.
“Is he still giving the Yankees juiced balls to play with?” wrote one fan.
“Well that does explain a lot,” added another.
Manfred is the only of the four North American sports commissioners to openly share their allegiance to a team in the league they govern.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell grew up a supporter of the then-Redskins in the Washington, D.C. area, but he said he gave up his fandom when he began working at the league office in the 1980s.
NHL head man Gary Bettman and NBA commissioner Adam Silver grew up Rangers and Knicks fans, respectively, but neither have spoken about still following those teams in their current roles.
Manfred, who began working for MLB during collective bargaining in 1987, has held his role as commissioner since 2015, when he assumed office in place of the retiring Bud Selig.
