Baseball | Sources: Commissioner Selig will step down after 2012 season

When Bruce Springsteen played the Bradley Center in Milwaukee earlier this month, he led into his encore with "No Surrender," sending its haunting refrain of "no retreat, no surrender" echoing around the arena.

Bud Selig is not a Springsteen fan. Yet that song applies to the Wisconsin-based commissioner as well as anyone.

Selig has held true to his passion for baseball through his life, including 50 years of involvement in the sport, the last 17 of which have been as its chief executive. To many, it must seem as if Selig has been commissioner forever, given all that has transpired in the major leagues in the past two decades.

Selig is entering the closing chapters of his tenure. He made that point semiofficially during an owners meeting in Chicago in mid-November.

According to sources, a group of five owners approached the 75-year-old Selig about remaining on the job beyond the end of his contract, which expires after the 2012 season.

It was the same kind of approach that had been used to convince him to stay in charge at least two other times, the first being after he stepped in as head of the executive council to lead ownership after Fay Vincent was forced to resign as commissioner in 1992. Selig's tenure most recently had been scheduled to end in 2009, but his deal was extended quietly in early 2008.

This time, according to sources, Selig told the owners he will step aside after 2012 — not because he is tiring but because he has other things to do while he is able.

Reached at his Milwaukee office, Selig declined to discuss his conversations with ownership but confirmed he plans to stay on the job three more years. That means the next labor agreement, due to be negotiated in 2011, might be his final official act.

Selig doesn't see himself considering retirement. He said he is trying to create time to write a book and possibly even teach history. History was his major at the University of Wisconsin.

Selig's children and grandchildren gathered in Milwaukee for the Thanksgiving holiday. Selig's wife, Sue, was hoping to have him home Wednesday to help greet them.

"I told her I'd only be [in the office] until 4:30," Selig said. "That's pretty good. I'm almost always here until 6."

It's hard to imagine Selig with time on his hands. But the time finally is coming when baseball is going to need to consider the next commissioner.

One of Selig's top lieutenants, Bob DuPuy or Rob Manfred, might be the choice if the goal of owners is to continue in the same direction.

Baltimore general manager Andy MacPhail, whose father and grandfather are in the Hall of Fame as executives, would be a popular choice among owners.

Note

• By late Tuesday night, the Detroit Tigers must give free-agent second baseman Placido Polanco a firm indication of how willing they are to re-sign him.

They will give Polanco that indication when they either do or don't offer him a one-year contract for next season — with the amount to be settled in salary arbitration.

Under baseball rules, each team has until 9 p.m. PST Tuesday to offer such arbitration-determined contracts for next season to free-agent players who finished the 2009 season with that club.