2:21pm: Major League Baseball has issued a press release confirming Selig's retirement. Within the release, Selig offered the following statement:
“It remains my great privilege to serve the game I have loved throughout my life. Baseball is the greatest game ever invented, and I look forward to continuing its extraordinary growth and addressing several significant issues during the remainder of my term.
I am grateful to the owners throughout Major League Baseball for their unwavering support and for allowing me to lead this great institution. I thank our players, who give me unlimited enthusiasm about the future of our game. Together we have taken this sport to new heights and have positioned our national pastime to thrive for generations to come. Most of all, I would like to thank our fans, who are the heart and soul of our game.”
1:04pm: Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig will announce his formal retirement later today, according to the New York Daily News' investigative reporting team of Teri Thompson, Michael O'Keeffe, Christian Red and Nathaniel Vinton. Selig plans to announce that the 2014 season will be his final as league commissioner, according to the report (Twitter link).
A report earlier this season from CBS Sports broke the news that Selig at one point turned down a five-year extension that would have kept him in office through age 83. Selig will be 80 years old at the conclusion of his career. He has been the league's commissioner since 1992 and seen baseball grow from a $1.2 billion industry to an $8.5 billion industry under his guidance.
