BOSTON -- Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly said major league baseball "played a major role" in deciding the winning bidder for the Boston Red Sox, calling into question the fairness of the sale process.

Reilly is investigating the sale of the team after the Red Sox rejected the highest bid in favor of a $660 million offer from a group headed by Florida Marlins owner John Henry, who is close to commissioner Bud Selig. Lawyer Miles Prentice headed a group that offered $750 million for the team.

"Major league baseball was calling the shots here," Reilly said after a four-hour meeting with Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington and team lawyers.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief legal counsel, denied the accusation.

"It is absolutely untrue that major league baseball directed or in any way influenced the Red Sox with regards to their decision," he said. "While we consulted with the Red Sox and were kept advised, as any league would do in the transfer of any ownership, we didn't approve of or disqualify any bidders and did not play a role in selecting the winning bid."

The Jean R. Yawkey Trust owns a majority stake in the team. Reilly, whose office oversees charities and charitable trusts, said he has an obligation to make sure that the charities receive the maximum benefit from the sale.

The Red Sox have said that Prentice's bid was unacceptable because he had not secured financing.

On Wednesday, Harrington called his meeting with Reilly "very productive." He said he's confident that after Reilly has gone through all the documentation turned over by the team, he will agree that the team picked the best offer.

"Not only have we sold the team for the highest value ever in major league baseball," Harrington said, "we've sold it to a group that truly loves the game."

Harrington also said Reilly would see that the charities, which stand to gain more than $400 million from the sale, would get a better value from the Henry deal.

Reilly said he'll demand that Selig and his representatives meet with him to explain their role in the sale, and he singled the commissioner's office out for criticism.

"It is clear that major league baseball and particularly the commissioner's office played a major role in who would be the next owner of the Red Sox," Reilly said. "The commissioner's office -- an assistant in that office -- was involved in the final negotiations and decision-making that took place in the latter days of that transaction."

He declined to identify the assistant.

Reilly also called into question the fairness of the process by which the team solicited bids and chose a winner.

"It's a club, that's what you're dealing with here," he said. "It was very clear that certain people would not be accepted and one would."

Reilly said his office tried to contact major league baseball last week about that concern, but the calls were not returned. He declined to say if he would subpoena league representatives.

DuPuy acknowledged that Reilly's office contacted league representatives last week, but they were told Reilly would be out of the office until Wednesday. Baseball intends to cooperate with the investigation, DuPuy said.

Reilly admitted that his office has no explicit jurisdiction over major league baseball, and he said it was the prerogative of baseball owners to choose who owns teams.

But he referred repeatedly to the antitrust exemption that Supreme Court granted baseball in 1922.