2002 Major League Baseball

The 2002 Major League Baseball season was the third season in which the two major leagues, the National League and the American League, were consolidated into a single entity under the authority of the Commissioner, Bud Selig.

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Events

Following the 2001 World Series, Major League Baseball announced plans to contract two teams, the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos. However, these plans were thwarted by a lawsuit filed in Minnesota. Because by then MLB had approved Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria's purchase of the Florida Marlins, it found itself as the owner of a lame-duck franchise. Plans were drawn hastily to appoint Tony Tavares as team President, Omar Minaya as General Manager and Frank Robinson as Manager. All three were previously MLB employees.

Much to the embarrassment of MLB who pretended the two franchises were in hopeless condition, both proved to be quite competitive in 2002, with the Twins winning a division title and the Expos finishing above .500 in second place in its division. In another low point for Commissioner Selig, the 2002 All-Star Game, played in his hometown of Milwaukee, WI on July 7th, was declared a tie when the two teams ran out of pitchers after 11 innings.

One very positive event was that the owners and Major League Baseball Players Association came to the brink of a strike before a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was agreed on August 30th, the day when play was scheduled to stop if there was no agreement. This agreement marked the start of a new, more collaborative era of collective bargaining in baseball after more than two decades of bitter conflict.

Umpires

• Lance Barksdale
• Ron Barnes
• Ted Barrett
• Mark Barron
• Wally Bell
• Joe Brinkman
• CB Bucknor
• Mark Carlson
• Gary Cederstrom
• Eric Cooper
• Derryl Cousins
• Terry Craft
• Jerry Crawford
• Fieldin Culbreth
• Phil Cuzzi
• Kerwin Danley
• Gary Darling
• Gerry Davis
• Dana DeMuth
• Laz Diaz
• Mike DiMuro
• Adam Dowdy
• Rob Drake
• Bruce Dreckman
• Doug Eddings
• Paul Emmel
• Mike Everitt
• Mike Fichter
• Andy Fletcher
• Marty Foster
• Bruce Froemming
• Greg Gibson
• Brian Gorman
• Chris Guccione
• Angel Hernandez
• Scott Higgins
• John Hirschbeck
• Mark Hirschbeck
• Bill Hohn
• Sam Holbrook
• Matt Hollowell
• Marvin Hudson
• Dan Iassogna
• Jim Joyce
• Kevin Kelley
• Jeff Kellogg
• Justin Klemm
• Brian Knight
• Ron Kulpa
• Ian Lamplugh
• Jerry Layne
• Alfonso Marquez
• Randy Marsh
• Tim McClelland
• Jerry Meals
• Chuck Meriwether
• Bill Miller
• Ed Montague
• Paul Nauert
• Jeff Nelson
• Scott Nelson
• Brian O'Nora
• Scott Packard
• Dave Phillips
• Larry Poncino
• Tony Randazzo
• Ed Rapuano
• Rick Reed
• Mike Reilly
• Charlie Reliford
• Jim Reynolds
• Steve Rippley
• Brian Runge
• Paul Schrieber
• Dale Scott
• John Shulock
• Darren Spagnardi
• Pat Spieler
• Tim Timmons
• Tim Tschida
• Larry Vanover
• Mike Vanvleet
• Mark Wegner
• Bill Welke
• Tim Welke
• Hunter Wendelstedt
• Joe West
• Mike Winters
• Jim Wolf
• Larry Young

See also

• 2002 American League
• 2002 National League
• 2002 Postseason

2002 MLB season by team