Fay Vincent, former MLB commissioner, dies at 86

MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent speaks to reporters before an October 1990 World Series game between the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. Credit: Getty Images/Jonathan Daniel
Fay Vincent was commissioner of baseball for only three years. Perhaps that is not surprising, given his frosty relationship with many owners during that time, but given how much happened during his term, it is surprising.
Vincent, who presided over a wide array of controversies and challenges, starting only a month into his tenure with the earthquake-delayed 1989 World Series, died on Saturday at age 86.
He had undergone radiation and chemotherapy for bladder cancer and developed complications that included bleeding, said his wife, Christina. He asked that treatment be stopped and died at a hospital in Vero Beach, Florida.
“Mr. Vincent served the game during a time of many challenges, and he remained proud of his association with our national pastime throughout his life,” current commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
Vincent’s stay in office began when he was called upon to succeed his friend, Bart Giamatti, after Giamatti’s sudden death from a heart attack, and it ended when he lost a vote of no-confidence by his bosses, the owners, in 1992.
In between, a lot happened, cementing a place in baseball history for Vincent that long outlived his actual time in office.
He was born on May 29, 1938, in Waterbury, Connecticut, then attended Williams College, where a college prank gone wrong led to him falling off a dormitory roof and severely injuring his spine.
Although he learned to walk again, he never recovered full use of his legs and walked with the aid of a cane for the rest of his life.
Vincent later became a lawyer, an official for the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and an executive at Columbia Pictures and Coca-Cola.
Giamatti tabbed him as his deputy in 1989. Five months later, on Sept. 1, Giamatti died, upending the sport.
After the charismatic Giamatti, Vincent projected a more bookish demeanor, but he was thrust into the spotlight when an earthquake before Game 3 of the World Series between the Giants and Athletics forced an interruption that lasted 11 days.
The owners locked out the players the following winter, eventually wiping out all of spring training before a new labor agreement was reached and the season started a week late.
That summer, Vincent banned Yankees owner George Steinbrenner from the game for his association with a man named Howard Spira, who was in search of dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield, with whom Steinbrenner had had a contract dispute. (Steinbrenner was reinstated two years later.)
Vincent got involved in more mundane baseball matters, too.
In 1991, a committee he appointed changed the definition of a no-hitter to require at least nine full innings and a complete game to qualify.
Vincent suspended pitcher Steve Howe in 1992 for drug offenses and was furious when Yankees management, including general manager Gene Michael and manager Buck Showalter, testified at Howe’s hearing.
In a sign of Vincent’s deteriorating relationship with owners, the Cubs sued him in the summer of 1992 to prevent a divisional realignment he had proposed.
Later that season, he finally resigned, viewed by a majority of owners — who came out against him 18-9 in a vote of no-confidence — as not sufficiently loyal to their concerns.
Bud Selig, an owner himself and part of the group that sought to oust Vincent, took over as interim commissioner and stayed in the job until 2015.
There was rising concern in the early ’90s among many in baseball over matters such as lagging television ratings and attendance and the slowing pace of play. Nine-inning games increasingly were lasting the absurd length of three hours.
It was a restless time, and Vincent fell victim to it.
In a parting statement, he wrote, “I cannot govern as commissioner without the consent of owners to be governed. I do not believe that consent is now available to me.
“Simply put, I’ve concluded that resignation — not litigation — should be my final act as commissioner ‘in the best interests’ of baseball.”
Vincent told Newsday that day, “I don’t think anybody wins here. I think baseball is headed toward major problems and, frankly, I think those problems are going to be somewhat exacerbated by my resignation.”
Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox, one of the owners who wanted Vincent out, said, “It was the only sensible thing he could do.”
But Vincent did have allies, including Rangers owner and future United States President George W. Bush and Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday, who said, “It’s a sad day for baseball. What these guys have done to baseball is inexcusable, illegal and immoral.
“These guys are playing with fire, and I don’t think one of them has a fire extinguisher or knows how to use one.”
During the ensuing decades, Vincent was outspoken — and often critical — on a wide variety of baseball-related matters and decisions. (He was a longtime opponent of the designated hitter.)
Vincent’s term was scheduled to expire on March 31, 1994, 4 ½ months before a labor dispute that erased that year’s World Series under Selig’s watch.
With AP
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