Purdy: Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred way under radar at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Contra Costa Times

PEBBLE BEACH — Striding through an ocean fog murkier than the A’s future ballpark plans, Rob Manfred finished up three days of golfing bliss here Saturday. He did so about as far under the radar as a commissioner of major league baseball could concoct.

Manfred has been on the job as Bud Selig’s successor for more than a year. But let’s just say the new commish’s face is not yet as recognizable as Selig’s — or definitely not as recognizable as the mugs of Justin Timberlake, Bill Murray, Toby Keith or other AT&T Pro-Am celebrities.

Proof of point: Manfred made his way in virtual secrecy around the links at Monterey Peninsula Country Club while the “A” list stars were at Pebble Beach, drawing the television close-ups and big crowds. Manfred and his pro partner Spencer Levin had a gallery of a dozen or so. And no autograph seekers.

Further proof of point: At the 15th green when Manfred nodded a pleasant greeting to volunteer marshal Don Smith at the 15th green, sports fan Smith was later surprised to learn that he’d just encountered the leader of America’s national pastime.

“Really?” asked Smith. “The baseball commissioner? I wouldn’t know him if he came up and kissed me on the cheek.”

Manfred, to his credit, was hardly offended to be so anonymous. His personality does not seem to demand the visiting-head-of-state treatment that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell received last week during the Super Bowl festivities. Manfred was just happy to be part of the Pebble party.

“Don’t you think pretty much every amateur in America would like to be in this tournament?” he asked. “It seemed like a great event and I was really appreciative of the invitation from AT&T.”

Alas, Manfred’s team missed the 54-hole cut. So he won’t be playing in Sunday’s final round, ending those several hours on the fairways during which he could leave baseball business behind — although of course, it still had a way of intruding even when the fog gave way to sunshine — courtesy of an NFL owner, for heaven’s sake.

While Manfred was lining up putts here, Raiders proprietor Mark Davis more or less called out the A’s and owner Lew Wolff for not yet declaring their long-term future in the East Bay so that the Raiders could better formulate their own plans. In response, Wolff and the A’s issued their own statement that called Davis’ remarks “unfortunate” and pointing out that the baseball team’s lease hardly prevents the Raiders from building on the Coliseum site.

Asked for his reaction to all of it, Manfred diplomatically implied that Davis might want to keep his mouth shut.

“We have a rule — certainly in my office and most of the clubs follow the same rule — that we don’t talk about other sports,” Manfred said. “Other sports have their issues. We have our issues. And we try to take care of our own.”

So does Manfred believe that Oakland needs to make the A’s a priority over the Raiders?

“I’m hopeful that both the city and the county find a way to get a facility built for the A’s,” Manfred said. “That’s my concern. What happens in football is somebody else’s issue to worry about. But I feel that baseball provides a tremendous opportunity for economic development. It could be really good for the city of Oakland.”

But when asked a follow-up question about whether it was even feasible for the A’s and Raiders to share the Coliseum site, Manfred said: “I don’t want to comment.”

He was happier to talk about golf, as you’d expect. Dressed sharply in gray slacks, a striped golf shirt with a black sweater vest and Titleist golf cap, Manfred very much resembled someone who might be a member of Sleepy Hollow Country Club outside New York City. Which, in fact, he is.

Manfred said he joined Sleepy Hollow about 12 years ago and has a regular game there. He’s an 11 handicap with a sweeping golf swing and a big home run follow-through. But in terms of distance, he’s more of a singles hitter. Manfred, 57, was often short of the greens Saturday. But he managed to pitch up and make the occasional par to help his team. Just not enough.

Yet playing with Levin and Steve Marino, the other pro in their group, the commissioner gained an up-close appreciation of a sport where the ball is smaller and sits still — but can go in some weird directions.

“You learn how hard these guys work to make a living,” Manfred said.

The partnership with Levin made sense because he wears an MLB logo on his golf cap as part of a sponsorship deal with MLB.com. Also, Levin is a big Giants fan and played on the Babe Ruth state championship team while growing up in Elk Grove outside Sacramento. He and Manfred didn’t exchange tips on either golf or baseball — but that hardly made for a less memorable week.

“I think the highlight for me was to play Pebble for the first time,” Manfred said. “I’d never played it before. I really enjoyed it and hope to do it again soon.”

Next up, though, is spring training, where he’ll confront more serious work — and likely more autograph requests. Golf nirvana can only last so long.

Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.