Tom Schieffer

John Thomas Schieffer

• School University of Texas

• Born October 4, 1947 in Fort Worth, TX USA

Biographical Information

Tom Schieffer was the President of the Texas Rangers from 1991 to 1999. During most of his tenure, his friend and business partner George W. Bush was the principal owner of the team. He was also the Rangers' general partner from 1994 to 1998, when Bush served as Governor of Texas, and in 2011 was appointed Monitor of the Los Angeles Dodgers on behalf of Major League Baseball.

Schieffer graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970 with a degree in governement and history. He then obtained a masters degree in international relations from the same university two years later. He was active in politics from an early age, being elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democratic Party candidate in 1972 after unseating the sitting speaker in a huge upset in the primary. He served three terms, until 1978, when he lost to a Republican candidate. He then completed course work towards a law degree from his alma mater and was admitted to the Texas bar in 1979. He became a corporate lawyer based in Fort Worth, TX, specializing in oil and gas cases. In those years, he worked on the campaigns of Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who was nominated for the vice-presidency of the United States in 1988.

In 1989, having already served on the board of the Texas Rangers foundation, he became a partner of George W. Bush and Rusty Rose in putting together a group of investors who would purchase the Rangers. When the purchase came through later that year, he was put in charge of building a new ballpark for the team, by putting together the necessary public-private partnership with the city of Arlington, TX, and then obtaining ratification of the deal by a referendum in 1991. His success on this file got him appointed as team president later that year. The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington opened to rave reviews in 1994. When Bush successfully ran for governor of Texas as a Republican in 1994, Schieffer, who had always identified with the conservative wing of the Democratic party, became one of his main backers. He became the team's general partner in place of Bush when he was sworn in as governor, and in 1998 the partnership sold the team to millionaire Tom Hicks. Schieffer stayed on as president for a year to ease the transition, leaving in April 1999. He then served on Major League Baseball's blue-ribbon task force on the economics of baseball.

In 2000, Bush was elected President and he nominated his old friend as United States Ambassador to Australia in 2001. Having recently taken his post, he was in Washington, DC accompanying Australian Prime Minister John Howard on an official visit when the events of September 11, 2001 unfolded. Schieffer returned to the United States in late 2004, after Bush's reelection to the presidency. Following excellent reviews of his work in Australia, he was appointed Ambassador to Japan in April 2005. He resigned his post after the election of President Barack Obama, leaving on the day of his inauguration in 2009. He then set up an exploratory committee to seek election as governor of Texas as a Democrat in 2010, but dropped out of the race in late 2009.

On April 25, 2011, Commissioner Bud Selig appointed Schieffer to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the title of Monitor. Major League Baseball had taken over operations of the team five days earlier over concerns about owner Frank McCourt's finances, as he was going through a prolonged and costly divorce. It was a coup for Selig to be able to appoint someone with Schieffer's impeccable credentials for the delicate position, given that McCourt's newly-appointed right-hand man, Steve Soboroff, had strongly criticized Selig's decision to take over the running of the team and had immediately threatened to sue MLB over the issue. Asked at a press conference whether he was anxious about having to deal with McCourt in his new position, Schieffer quipped: "I've dealt with North Koreans". After a few weeks on the job, he told the Associated Press that he was surprised at the complexity of the Dodgers' situation. He said the team was composed of 26 interlocking financial entities, making it extremely complex to have a clear picture of the team's bottom line. Many of the companies involved were mere shells set up for tax or liability purposes, placing the management of owner Frank McCourt in even poorer light.

Related Sites

• Announcement from mlb.com
• Article from USA Today on his appointment with the Dodgers