Fay Vincent
Fay Vincent | |
---|---|
A. Bartlett Giamatti | |
Succeeded by | Bud Selig |
Personal details | |
Born | Francis Thomas Vincent Jr. May 29, 1938 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
Alma mater | Williams College Yale Law School (J.D.) |
Known for | President of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (1998–2003) MLB Commissioner |
Francis Thomas Vincent Jr. (born May 29, 1938), known as Fay Vincent, is a former entertainment lawyer, securities regulator, and sports executive who served as the eighth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from September 13, 1989, to September 7, 1992.
Early life and career
Vincent was born on May 29, 1938, in Waterbury, Connecticut,[1] the son of Alice (née Lynch), a teacher, and Francis Thomas Vincent, a telephone company employee and sports official.[1] He is a graduate of the Hotchkiss School.[2]
He attended Williams College, where a near-fatal accident left him with a crushed spine and paralyzed legs. He had been locked inside his dorm room as a prank; climbing onto the roof to escape he slipped off a four-story ledge. Surgery and three months in traction followed.[2] He overcame an initial diagnosis he would never walk again, but his leg never fully recovered and he has since relied on a cane.[3]
He received a B.A. degree from Williams (class of 1960) with honors and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School (class of 1963).[4] He went on to become a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin & Drysdale. He also served as Associate Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Beginning in 1978 he became the chairman of Columbia Pictures, and senior vice president of Coca-Cola when it purchased Columbia in March 1982.[5] In April 1986 he was promoted to Executive Vice President.[6]
Commissioner of Baseball
At the behest of his longtime friend, incoming
Vincent became acting commissioner when Giamatti died suddenly on September 1, 1989. After consulting with Giamatti's widow, Toni, he agreed to succeed Giamatti as commissioner and was duly elected by MLB owners as the eighth commissioner of baseball on September 13.[8]
In his first year as commissioner, he presided over the
In 1990, National League president Bill White was prepared to suspend umpire Joe West for slamming Philadelphia pitcher Dennis Cook to the field, but Vincent intervened and no discipline was imposed.
On September 4, 1991, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy, appointed by Vincent, changed the definition of a no-hitter to require that a pitcher or pitching staff hold a team hitless for at least nine full innings and a complete game. Since New York Yankee Andy Hawkins (who never gave up a hit during a game against the Chicago White Sox on July 1, 1990, despite the White Sox winning the game 4-0) played for the visiting team, the White Sox never batted in the ninth inning and Hawkins lost the credit for a no-hitter.[12]
This same committee also ruled that Roger Maris was (then) the one and only single-season home run record holder, overturning the 1961 decision of former commissioner Ford Frick that Maris and Ruth's home run totals should be listed side-by-side for 154- and 162-game seasons (contrary to popular belief, Frick never mentioned using an asterisk).[13]
Also during his commissionership, Vincent made it known (e.g. while being interviewed by
During and after his tenure, Vincent has vehemently defended the indefinite suspension of Pete Rose and his role in its imposition. When Rose applied for re-instatement, which he was permitted to do under the terms of the settlement, Vincent never acted on the request.
In the 2004 made-for-television movie about the Rose scandal, Hustle, Vincent was portrayed by actor Alan Jordan.[15]
1989 World Series
On October 17, 1989, Vincent
The World Series ultimately resumed after a 10-day postponement
1990 lockout
In February 1990, owners announced that spring training would not be starting as scheduled. This occurred after MLBPA Executive Director Donald Fehr became afraid that the owners would institute a salary cap. Fehr believed that a salary cap could possibly restrict the number of choices free agents could make and a pay-for-performance scale would eliminate multiyear contracts. The lockout, which was the seventh work stoppage in baseball since 1972, lasted 32 games and wiped out almost all of spring training.[20]
Vincent worked with both the owners and MLBPA, and on March 19, 1990, Vincent was able to announce a new Basic Agreement (which raised the minimum major league salary from $68,000 to $100,000 and established a six-man study committee on revenue sharing). As a consequence for the lockout, Opening Day for the 1990 season was moved back a week to April 9, and the season was extended by three days to accommodate the normal 162-game schedule.[21]
George Steinbrenner
On July 30, 1990, Vincent banned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner from baseball for life after Steinbrenner paid Howard Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 for "dirt" on his outfielder Dave Winfield after Winfield sued Steinbrenner for failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 guaranteed in his contract.[22] Steinbrenner was eventually reinstated in 1992 for a return in the spring of 1993.[23]
It came out later from Vincent that he had wanted to suspend Steinbrenner for only two years. It was Steinbrenner who asked for a lifetime ban as he was tired of baseball and wanted to help run the
Steve Howe
On June 24,
You have effectively resigned from baseball by agreeing to appear at that hearing.... you should have left your conscience and your principles outside the door.
The three men testified for Howe as promised, and remained active in baseball. Three months later, Vincent was removed from his job as commissioner. An arbitrator overturned Vincent's suspension of Howe on November 11, 1992.[28]
Collusion
Fay Vincent on the effects of
The Union basically doesn’t trust the Ownership because collusion was a $280 million theft by Selig and Reinsdorf of that money from the players. I mean, they rigged the signing of free agents. They got caught. They paid $280 million to the players. And I think that’s polluted labor relations in baseball ever since it happened. I think it’s the reason Fehr
1993 expansion
In June
In an attempt to win support in the American League and balance the vote, Vincent decreed that the AL owners were entitled to 22 percent of the $190 million take. This decision marked the first time in expansion history that leagues were required to share expansion revenue or provide players for another league's expansion draft. He said the owners expanded to raise money to pay their
Realignment
Just prior to leaving office, Vincent had plans to realign the National League. Vincent wanted the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals to switch divisions with the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves.[30] When Major League Baseball realigned in 1969, this geographical anomaly was created in order to give the Chicago and St. Louis franchises more games during television's prime time schedule. National League president Bill White warned Vincent that realigning without league approval would be in violation of the National League Constitution.[31]
Many thought this plan would be beneficial to the league as a whole, especially by building a regional rivalry between the new franchise in
On July 17,
Although Vincent's vision never really came into fruition, Major League Baseball did in fact realign in 1994, albeit in the form of three divisions in each league, and the addition of an expanded playoff format with the Wild Card.[33]
Vincent's relationship with the owners
His relationship with baseball's owners was always tenuous at best; he resigned in
The leaders in the movement to oust Vincent were members of what The Sporting News later dubbed The Great Lakes Gang:[36]
- Bud Selig, president of the Milwaukee Brewers;
- Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago White Sox;
- Tribune Co., which owned the Chicago Cubs;
- Carl Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins;
- Peter O'Malley, the longtime majority-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers
- William Bartholomay, longtime part-owner and Chairman of the Atlanta Braves
In his farewell, Vincent said
To do the job without angering an owner is impossible. I can't make all twenty-eight of my bosses happy. People have told me I'm the last commissioner. If so, it's a sad thing. I hope they [the owners] learn this lesson before too much damage is done.
Vincent was never able to complete the five-year term that he had inherited from Bart Giamatti. Vincent contended that Major League Baseball made a huge mistake by not appointing his deputy commissioner
Life after baseball
This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Fay Vincent" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2017) |
After stepping down from the commissioner's office, Vincent became a private investor and the president of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Vincent served as the NECBL's president from 1998 to 2004.[38] In 2001, when baseball owners voted to contract two clubs, Vincent criticized them for not consulting the players' union. In 2002, Vincent wrote his autobiography, The Last Commissioner: A Baseball Valentine.[39]
In
The All-Star Game is a great honor. Again, if you are trying to send a message to players to think twice before you do something stupid, one way to do that is by sending the message that, and by the way, if there is an All-Star Game, you're not going to get to play in that.
Vincent has been critical of Major League Baseball's handling of the
In March 2006, Vincent called on baseball to investigate (similar to the
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's the biggest crisis that's hit baseball since the '20s and the Black Sox scandal. The generic problem of steroids in baseball has been brought to a head by the Bonds situation. It's really an enormous mess because it has threatened all baseball records, everything that was done in the '90s forward is suspect because of the likelihood that lots of players were using steroids.
Vincent wrote in the April 24, 2006, issue of Sports Illustrated, that with most of Bonds' official troubles being off the field, and with the strength of the players' union, there was little Bud Selig could do beyond appointing an investigating committee. Vincent said that Selig is largely "an observer of a forum beyond his reach."[41]
On October 18, 2007, Vincent appeared with sportscaster Bob Costas at Williams College for "A Conversation About Sports", moderated by Will Dudley, associate professor of philosophy.[42] On May 28, 1992, Vincent was awarded an honorary doctoral degree at Central Connecticut State University.[43] He also gave the 1992 Vance Distinguished Lecture at the university.
On May 18, 2008,
In April 2021, Vincent criticized
References
- ^ a b HighBeam
- ^ a b Cohn, Roger. "Nothing But Curve Balls", The New York Times, June 3, 1990; accessed December 18, 2007. "At the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., young Fay played guard on the football team, excelled at Latin and French and was remembered by classmates for his witty parodies of the poetry of Keats and Coleridge."
- ^ Schulder, Michael. "Former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent's Inspiring Tale Of Resilience". Sports.CBSlocal.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Fay Vincent LAW '63 talks career as Commissioner". Yaledailynews.com. Yale Daily News. 28 April 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
- ^ "Gaudino Dialogue to Feature Former Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent on Failure, Creativity, and Triumph". Communications.Williams.edu. Williams College Office of Communications. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
- ^ "Commissioners". MLB.MLB.com. MLB Advanved Media, LP. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Vincent interview by Maury Brown, 11-4-05, 11-8-05, published by SABR (Society for American Baseball Research)". Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2006.
- ^ a b Lee, Bradford (2021-12-15). "A look back at former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent". Royals Review. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
- ^ "Fay Vincent Gets the Last Word". FoxSports.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Holtzman, Jerome (14 March 1990). "TIME TO LIFT LOCKOUT-WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED". ChicagoTribune.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ McCoy, Kevin; Pienciak, Richard (30 July 2015). "The Boss Gets Benched! George Steinbrenner loses control of the Yankees in 1990 stunner". NYDailyNews.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Politi, Steve (29 June 2015). "25 years ago, Yankees' Andy Hawkins threw baseball's most painful no-hitter". NJ.com. Advance Local Media, LLC. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Roger Maris Breaks Hope Run Record". History.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Vincent Wants to Get Rid of DH Rule". Los Angeles Times. 19 June 1991. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Hustle (TV Movie 2004)". IMDB.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Malinowski, Eric (October 14, 2014). "Fay Vincent Gets The Last Word". Fox Sports. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
- ^ Justice, Richard. "Game 3 of World Series Postponed Until Friday". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ Reeves, Jim. "1989 World Series: ppd. earthquake". Star-telegram.com. Fort Worth-Star Telegram. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ Keown, Tim (17 October 2014). "When the earth moved the series". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ "Baseball Lockout Was a Joke". Deseretnews.com. Deseret News Publishing Company. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ Fagan, Ryan. "Baseball strikes and lockouts: a history of MLB work stoppages". SportingNews.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ McLennan, Jim (18 April 2011). "Baseball's Greatest Scandals, #10: Steinbrenner vs. Winfield". AZSnakepit.com. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Newhan, Ross (25 July 1992). "Yankee Boss Can Return on March 1 : Baseball: Vincent says all restrictions on Steinbrenner will cease on that date". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ "The man who fired 'The Boss' -- Fay Vincent recalls Steinbrenner". 14 July 2010.
- ^ Chass, Murray (August 1990). "Baseball; Faced with Suspension, Steinbrenner Sought an Alternative". The New York Times.
- ^ O’Connell, Jack. "No Saving Howe's Career". articles.courant.com. The Hartford Courant. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Madden, Bill (30 April 2006). "Howe's End, Like Billy's, No Surprise". NYDailyNews.com. New York Daily News. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Howe's 'Lifetime Ban' Lifted". ChicagoTribune.com. The Chicago Tribune. 13 November 1992. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Vincent Gives AL Owners Slice of NL Expansion Pie". TulsaWorld.com. BH Media Group, Inc. 7 June 1991. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Rogers, Phil (7 July 1992). "NL realignment could force moves of the legal variety". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- ^ Newhan, Ross (7 July 1992). "Vincent Orders a Realignment of NL : Baseball: He rules it in best interest of baseball to move St. Louis and Chicago to the West, Atlanta and Cincinnati to the East". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Newhan, Ross (8 July 1992). "Vincent Sued by Cubs to Halt Realignment". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Newhan, Ross (10 September 1993). "Baseball Owners Approve New League Lineup". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
- ^ "MLB History: Fay Vincent Forced Out as Commissioner". FoxSports.com. Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Herbert, Steven (28 October 1992). "World Series Hits a Single in Ratings". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Strubel, John. "The Great Lakes Gang Sink Vincent". JohnStrubel.com. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Holtzman, Jerome (4 September 1992). "BASEBALL REVOLT: OWNERS CALL ON VINCENT TO QUIT". ChicagoTribune.com. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "About Us | New England Collegiate Baseball League". New England Collegiate Baseball League. Archived from the original on 2018-09-28. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ISBN 9781416578017. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Mitchell to Head Steroid Investigation". ESPN.com. 29 March 2006. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Vincent, Fay. "Power Shortage". SI.com. Sports Illustrated Network. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Williams College Presents "A Conversation about Sports with Bob Costas and Fay Vincent"". Williams.edu. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". ccsu.edu. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Fairfield University awards degrees to 1,233 graduates at 2008 commencement ceremony". Retrieved 2008-05-18. [dead link]
- ^ Canova, Daniel (April 6, 2021). "Moving MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta is 'serious mistake,' former Commissioner Fay Vincent says". Fox News.
Further reading
- The Commissioners: Baseball's Midlife Crisis
- Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent resigns
- Baseball’s Humanitarian Commissioner Feted at Hyatt
- Vincent: Selig may have to take a stand on Bonds
- Fay Vincent (MLB Commissioner 1989-1992)
External links
- Fay Vincent at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
- Francis T. Vincent, Jr. at MLB.com
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Fay Vincent on Charlie Rose
- Fay Vincent at IMDb
- Fay Vincent collected news and commentary at The New York Times