Jthornton Relinquishes Commissioner Role

It has been an honor to serve world Major Leagues as commissioner for the past 12 seasons.  I reluctantly took that title in November 2013 simply because I had the time to manage the recruiting thread in the classified forum and no other owners wanted to step forward to do it.  I appreciate all of the help many of you have offered and provided during this time and the fact that everyone has acted in a civil manner toward each other so that there really were no big issues that had to be handled.  In truth, the world pretty much has run itself.

Real life had already become busy enough a few seasons ago to make it difficult for me to continue to give this responsibility the time it deserves.  If blanch13 had not taken the initiative to pretty much take over recruiting, I would have resigned a few seasons ago.  I began the process of modifying the MWR and disbanding the committee in January 2016, but real life got in the way and I never completed the task.  I apologize for not following through and either adding a replacement committee member or disbanding it completely.  I would still be in favor of seeing the committee go away in the future.

Then this past September, a co-worker and close friend of over 20 years passed away unexpectedly in a car accident and I have had to assume additional responsibilities at work giving me even less time to devote to this world.  Those responsibilities will not be going away, so the time has come for me to step down and let someone else take over who can devote the time to the position that it deserves.

I have passed the reigns to blanch13 so that he can run the offseason recruiting in a timely manner and avoid any delays.  I would like to thank him for everything he has done over the past several seasons.  Without him, we would not have rolled over as quickly or found the quality of new owners that we have.  His value to our world has been immense during that time as many worlds have taken months to fill and have had to lower their standards to find enough owners.  I believe the initiative he has shown and the time and effort he has put into this world make him an obvious candidate to hold the commissioner title going forward.

I consider this world to be one of the very best in Hardball Dynasty and I intend to remain as owner of the Tampa Bay Rays franchise.  I just think the world deserves better from a commissioner and I don't want my inattention to ever cause any harm towards this outstanding world we have here.

Thank you for allowing me to serve, and I look forward to continuing to compete against each of you.