WASHINGTON -- The Giants' baton was passed from Peter Magowan to Bill Neukom on Thursday, and a new era of baseball in San Francisco has perhaps begun.

As the 30 executives voted presumptively on Neukom's fate, he paced nervously outside the ballroom where the morning session of the owners' meeting was in full force. But there really should have been no worries. Neukom walked through that gauntlet unanimously and replaces the 66-year-old Magowan as managing general partner.

"It was a great moment," said Neukom in an exclusive interview with MLB.com about his full acceptance into baseball's highest fraternity. "I'm privileged to be invited to be the controlling person of the San Francisco Giants. I've been an investor for a number of years and a general partner for the last six years. With Peter deciding to retire and move on, I got the opportunity to step in and work with the other investors and front office people to be part of the national pastime.

"It's a proud franchise. We're going to re-double our efforts, bring competitive baseball back to San Francisco on a regular basis, and have all the fun that that brings us."

Magowan took over the title and power after the 1992 season, when the group he assembled purchased the team and saved it from a move to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. As part of his legacy, he signed Barry Bonds that offseason to what was the richest player contract at the time in Major League history; completed the 20-year civic fight that gave birth to what is now called AT&T Park nestled in the China Basin neighborhood of the city, and brought the Giants back to respectability on the field.

Bud Selig, owner of the Brewers at the time, had just been named interim Commissioner in September 1992, when the possible move of the Giants was dumped in his lap.

"That was the first situation I had to deal with," Selig said on Thursday. "Peter and I knew each other at the time, but not very well. I have great regard for him, great fondness. He's done a great job with the franchise. I know he felt it was time to move on, but there wouldn't be a San Francisco Giants without Peter Magowan. We'll miss him."

Selig, though, said he was equally impressed with Magowan's successor, who's the outgoing president of the American Bar Association and still has a year to go working for that organization in a secondary capacity.

"He has very impressive credentials," Selig said about Neukom. "He's a very impressive gentleman. I'm very, very confident that he will do a very, very good job. He has many experiences and he's been a big baseball fan his entire life."

Neukom, also 66, was one of the club's remaining three general partners. He said he accepted his new role because he was willing to shoulder a full-time workload. Magowan's retirement will become official on Oct. 1.

Magowan came in when the Giants had just finished a 72-90 season in '92, and is leaving with the club on pace to lose 90 games for the second consecutive year. They haven't made the playoffs since 2003, and came closest to winning it all in '02, when the Giants lost a seven-game World Series to the Angels.

Neukom comes in with the Giants, at 50-70, heading for a fourth place finish in the National League West. This after the Giants had a 71-91 season in 2007, the last of 15 for Bonds in a Giants uniform.

The change at the top may signal a different direction. Under Magowan, the Giants spent freely on aging free agents, a tactic that some critics claim has led to their recent downfall. Under Neukom, expect the Giants to continue building the farm system.

"I don't pitch or field or hit," Neukom said. "My job is to work with professionals on the baseball side to make sure we have the talent that shows skills on the field. That means we've got to keep building our farm system and our coaches, because those are the people who teach so the kids can play the game in the Major Leagues at the highest level."

Bonds was certainly an echo of the old paradigm.

In 1992, Magowan decided that his top priority was to sign Bonds to a then-record six-year, $43.75 million contract. That began a tumultuous decade-and-a-half relationship between Magowan, the club and the left-handed slugger, who last season passed Hank Aaron into first place on the all-time home run list.

Late last season, Bonds was not asked back for 2008. He remains an unretired free agent with 762 homers and is under the shroud of indictment by the federal government -- accused of lying about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. His case is scheduled to go to trial in a San Francisco court on March 2.

But the direction in which the Giants are heading won't include Bonds, Neukom implied.

"I think the Giants are on the right trajectory," he said. "We are going to continue to invest in our farm system and our development system, finding the right talent to make us better. I think that's what we should be doing. All of those things we're making progress in. Those have been the bright spots this year. The trajectory is the right one."