Fay Vincent

Commissioners

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Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr. (born May 29, 1938 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is a former entertainment lawyer and sports executive who served as the 8th commissioner of Major League Baseball from September 13, 1989 to September 7, 1992. He is a graduate of The Hotchkiss School and Williams College, class of 1960, which he attended on a full academic scholarship, and Yale Law School, class of 1963.

[edit] Actions as commissioner

Vincent was offered the position of deputy commissioner by incoming commissioner Bart Giamatti and Vincent accepted at his longtime friend's behest. He became the 8th commissioner of baseball following the untimely death of Giamatti on September 1, 1989, and presided over the 1989 World Series, which was interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake; the owners' lockout during Spring Training of the 1990 season; and a suspension of George Steinbrenner in his first year. Before accepting the job as Commissioner of Baseball, Vincent consulted with Bart Giamatti's widow, Toni, to make sure she thought it was appropriate for him to do so.

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.

During his commissionership, Vincent made it known (e.g. while being interviewed by Pat O'Brien during CBS' coverage of Game 4 of the 1991 World Series) that if he had the chance, he would get rid of the designated hitter rule.

Vincent has also been connected with Pete Rose's lifetime banishment from baseball; however, Rose's banishment began while Giamatti was commissioner, not Vincent (although Vincent led the investigation and was involved in the negotiations). Vincent has publicly said he does not support Rose's reinstatement.

[edit] 1989 World Series

On October 17, 1989, Vincent sat in a field box behind the left dugout at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. At 5:04 p.m., just prior to Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, the Loma Prieta earthquake (which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale) hit. After coming to the conclusion that the power couldn't be restored before sunset, Vincent ordered the game to be postponed at approximately 5:35 p.m. According to Vincent, he had already made the decision to postpone Game 3 without telling anybody first. As a result, the umpires filed a form of protest of Vincent's decision.

The World Series ultimately resumed after a ten day postponement (and some initial conflict between Vincent and San Francisco mayor Art Agnos) on October 27, 1989. While presenting the World Series Trophy to the Athletics, who wound up winning the World Series in a four game sweep, Vincent summed up the 1989 World Series as a "Remarkable World Series in many respects."

[edit] 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 all of spring training.

Vincent worked feverishly with both the owners and MLBPA, and on March 19, 1990, Vincent was able to conclude 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.

[edit] George Steinbrenner

On July 30, 1990, Vincent banned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner from baseball for life after Steinbrenner paid Howie 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. Steinbrenner was eventually reinstated in 1993 (one year after Vincent left office).

[edit] Steve Howe

On June 24, 1992, Vincent permanently suspended pitcher Steve Howe for repeated drug offenses. Vincent was incensed when upper Yankee management (Buck Showalter, Gene Michael, and Jack Lawn) agreed to testify on Howe's behalf, and threatened them with expulsion from the game:

"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."

Amusingly, the three men were unaffected by Vincent's hyperbole, 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.

[edit] Collusion

Fay Vincent on the effects of collusion:

"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 has no trust in Selig."

[edit] 1993 expansion

In June 1991, Vincent declared that the American League would receive $42 million of the National League's $190 million in expansion revenue and that the AL would provide players in the National League expansion draft (involving the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins). 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. Vincent said the owners expanded to raise money to pay their collusion debt.

[edit] Realignment

Just prior to leaving office, Vincent had plans to realign the National League. Vincent wanted the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals to move from the Eastern Division to the Western Division. The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, who had been a geographic mistake ever since Major League Baseball realigned in 1969, would move to the Eastern Division. National League president Bill White warned Vincent that realigning without league approval would be in violation of the National League Constitution.

On July 17, 1992, the Chicago Cubs sued Vincent and asked the U.S. District Court in Chicago for a preliminary injunction to prevent implementation, which was granted two weeks later. After Vincent's attorneys appealed, oral arguments were scheduled for August 30 of that year. Ultimately, Vincent resigned before the litigation was scheduled to resume, so as a result, the Cubs dropped their suit.

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.

[edit] Vincent's relationship with the owners

His relationship with baseball's owners was always tenuous at best; he resigned in 1992 after the owners gave him an 18-9 no confidence vote. The owners were still angry at Vincent over his intervention during the 1990 lockout. The owners were also disappointed by dwindling television ratings in light of a $1.2 billion, four year deal with CBS (which ultimately cost the network $500 million) beginning in 1990 (Vincent's first full season as commissioner) and upwardly spiraling salaries. They also accused him of acting in a high-handed manner, especially in the Howe affair.

The leaders in the movement to oust Vincent were members of what The Sporting News later dubbed The Great Lakes Gang:

• Bud Selig, president of the Milwaukee Brewers;

• Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago White Sox;

• Stanton Cook, head of the 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

In his farewell, Vincent said

He was replaced by Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig. Fay Vincent was never able to complete the five year term that he had inherited from Bart Giamatti. Because Selig's family retained ownership of the Brewers, Vincent was the last truly impartial commissioner of baseball, since he held no ownership of a team himself. Vincent would later contend that Major League Baseball made a huge mistake by not appointing his deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg — the son of the Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg — as the commissioner.