A. BARTLETT GIAMATTI 1938--1989 : Giamatti and President Bush: Yale Graduates and Good Friends

KENNEBUNKPORT, Me. —  A few days ago, Bart Giamatti telephoned George Bush at the President’s retreat here.

Bush just missed the call from the baseball commissioner but knew what his longtime friend and fellow Yale University graduate wanted to talk about: Pete Rose.

“I had not commented on it but I have talked to him at great length about it,” Bush said Friday, shortly after Giamatti’s death. “I told him I’d like to, just as a baseball fan, know the aftermath, know exactly how this matter had been resolved.

“That was not an easy matter for him. But all through that, I was thinking of the difficulty that he had in setting these standards that high and staying with it.”

Bush called Giamatti’s death a tragedy. “A young, certainly by my standards, man. And just a wonderful person,” he said.

“Bart was a close friend of mine for many, many years. I just want to pay my respects. He loved the game of baseball and in a short time made a real contribution to the game, standing for the highest possible ethical standards.”