After 13 years as President and CEO of Minor League Baseball, Pat O’Conner announced Tuesday that he will be retiring at the end of 2020 in a press release distributed by MiLB. The news comes as MiLB and Major League Baseball are in negotiations for a new professional baseball agreement.
In the release, O’Conner stated, “It has been a privilege to serve in Minor League Baseball leadership for the past 28 years and I will be forever indebted to all of the staff who worked with me in St. Petersburg over the years.”
O’Conner was the 11th and most likely final president of Minor League Baseball if MLB gets its way in the negotiations and eliminates the MiLB offices entirely. His retirement also comes after some drama after he disbanded the original MiLB negotiating committee for one that was more likely to push to save the office. That second committee was then replaced with the current team.
His retirement comes after a 38-year career in professional baseball, with 28 of them in the Minor League Baseball office. O’Conner joined the Minor League Baseball office in 1993 as the chief operating officer, then was named vice president, administration after the 1995 season before being named the president in 2007. His tenure is the fifth-longest presidency in Minor League Baseball’s 120-year history, behind Michael Sexton (23 years, 1910–1932), George Trautman (17 years, 1947–1963), Mike Moore (16 years, 1992–2007), and William Bramham (14 years, 1933–1946).