Vincent Is Unanimous Selection as Giamatti’s Replacement

MILWAUKEE —  A. Bartlett Giamatti and Francis T. Vincent Jr. didn’t compose a firm, only the firmest of friendships.

And now Vincent, 51, the surviving partner, will pick up and pursue the agenda he and Giamatti had outlined for baseball before Giamatti died of a heart attack Sept. 1, only five months after succeeding Peter Ueberroth as commissioner.

The 26 owners, in a special joint meeting before the regularly scheduled American and National League meetings Wednesday, voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of their Executive Council, electing Vincent to the remaining 4 1/2 years of Giamatti’s term.

There were no other candidates and no appeal for formation of a search committee, American League president Bobby Brown said.

“We considered every aspect, but we’ve had the chance to watch Fay for six months as deputy commissioner and that’s more valuable than the opinion of a search committee.

“I’m depressed because of Bart’s passing, but enthusiastic about Fay’s ability to step in. He’s an excellent leader with impressive ability to cut to the core of a problem. He gets along with people well but can be tough if he needs to be. He’s exceedingly bright, but also open to the views of others.”

Dodger Owner Peter O’Malley cited the continuity and stability inherent in the selection of Vincent, who became baseball’s first deputy commissioner when Giamatti reorganized the office in April. The executive council then named Vincent acting commissioner after Giamatti’s death.

Facing negotiations with the players’ union on a new collective bargaining agreement when the season ends and aware of the National Football League’s divisive attempt to replace retiring commissioner Pete Rozelle, baseball’s owners thought it was important to make a quick and smooth transition, O’Malley said.

“We were fortunate to have a qualified man in a position we had never had before,” O’Malley said. “For Fay to move up was the logical step. We all sensed the respect and admiration Bart had for him, and we’ve had the chance to develop our own respect and admiration.

“There’s no hidden agenda to Fay Vincent. He’s a natural, frank and honest person. He’s very much like Bart in that what you see is what you get, but Bart would be the first to admit that Fay brings some additional talents to the party.”

O’Malley alluded to a resume more varied than that of Giamatti, the former Yale president and authority on Renaissance literature.

A lawyer who has held important positions in government and business, Vincent seems to combine Giamatti’s romantic passion for baseball with Ueberroth’s corporate expertise.

He has forged an impressive career despite a college accident that temporarily paralyzed him, forced him to give up his goal of becoming a priest and left him to cope with two fragile legs now ravaged by arthritis.

“It’s a double whammy,” Vincent said, alluding to the arthritis in legs already weakened by the accident that occurred in 1956, when he was a freshman at Williams.

Vincent, in a prank, was locked into his fourth-floor room. He attempted to reach a nearby window by balancing on an icy ledge, but fell, and the ensuing fall crushed two vertebrae, forced Vincent to undergo a year of rehabilitation from the initial paralysis and prompted Jesuits in the Boston area, believing he was not strong enough to cope with their training regimen, to reject his application for schooling as a priest.

“I was fortunate,” Vincent said, looking back. “I had to learn to walk again. If I hadn’t been 18 and in good shape, I might not have been able to recover.”

Vincent uses a cane to help him walk now and cannot stand for a long period. The owners, he said, did not question him regarding his health, but he felt it fair that he bring it up, stressing to them that aside from the problem with his legs, he is in reasonable shape and is not a cigarette smoker as Giamatti was, although he does occasionally smoke a cigar.

“It’s been more than 30 years since I was hurt, and I don’t feel that I’ve accomplished anything heroic,” Vincent said. “It never occurred to me that you don’t continue to do the best you can or that I was handicapped in any way. I’ve been fortunate to be able to earn a decent living doing things with my mind. Others have been far less fortunate.”

Born in Waterbury, Conn., the son of a former Yale football and baseball captain who officiated in the National Football League, Vincent has:

--Graduated from Williams as a Phi Beta Kappa in three years and then received a law degree from Yale.

--Served as associate director of the division of corporation finance for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

--Joined Columbia Pictures as president and chief executive officer, then later become senior vice president of Coca-Cola and president of its entertainment business sector.

Along the way, Vincent spent a summer as an oil field roughneck in Texas, invited by college classmate William Bush, brother of President Bush, who called Vincent Wednesday to extend congratulations on his new job.

Vincent has been to the White House and dined with presidents. He has discussed movies with the Pope and been photographed with Queen Elizabeth and Princess Di, not to mention a Hollywood cast of thousands.

But it is a measure of what he calls his addiction to baseball, a habit that started with a youth’s love of the New York Yankees and later, because he was then working in Washington, shifted to the Baltimore Orioles, that Vincent said his proudest moment came when Giamatti introduced him to Joe DiMaggio at the recent All-Star game in Anaheim. “It was a powerful experience,” Vincent said. “I told him, ‘I’ve been around, I’ve met a lot of people, but you’re special.’ He probably thought I was going to ask for an autograph.”

Vincent’s addiction to baseball was shared by Giamatti. They were introduced in the mid-’70s by a friend and became instant companions and confidants.

“The fact that I’m succeeding someone I love is what makes this tolerable,” Vincent said. “And the fact that Bart was and is becoming larger than life is fine with me.”

In their brief tenure as commissioner and deputy, Vincent said, there was little they did not work on together. Giamatti, recognizing Vincent’s expertise in finance, law and trouble shooting of a type he learned at the SEC and which surfaced in the Pete Rose gambling investigation, sought Vincent’s assistance.

It was Vincent who worked out the agreement that led to Rose’s lifetime suspension. Vincent said Wednesday that he agreed with Giamatti, that it is “up to Mr. Rose to re-define his life” in a way that might lead to reinstatement.

“The problem is his and not mine,” Vincent said.

It also was Vincent who organized an extensive and ongoing market survey of people’s perception of baseball--owners will get the first results today--and a reorganization of the game’s marketing techniques in general.

It was that familiarity with the office that enhanced his chances to be elected commissioner, but Vincent said it would have been presumptuous to campaign for the position after Giamatti died. He said he spoke with Giamatti’s widow and others he has confidence in and they urged him to take it.

“I’m flattered, but I also have a great sense of conflict,” he said of the offer. “I know this is not the way to get the job. Bart was special. His loss is an irreparable one. I take the job, but I do not replace Bart.”

At the same time, Vincent said that he told the owners he would not accept it if he didn’t think he could handle it and that the transition should be “reasonably seamless” because he will be pursuing the agenda he and Giamatti designed, an agenda focusing on the fans, ballpark ambience and affirmative action.

Of the potential player strike next spring, Vincent said he is an “incurable optimist” who refuses to believe rational people cannot bring a tranquility to negotiations.

He said he would hire his own deputy commissioner and added, “Bart believed in an orderly process, and the ultimate compliment to him is the symmetry of my remaining as commissioner.”

Asked about his string of prestigious jobs, Vincent said: “I’ve always told people that the most wonderful ingredient in life is luck. I’ve never pursued any of my jobs. I’m flattered that people keep asking me to do wonderful things. I’ve been in the entertainment business and I’ve been in baseball. The only things I haven’t been in are Chevrolet and apple pie.”

Wit and humor of the style displayed by his late predecessor dotted the news conference of baseball’s eighth commissioner, a man who prefers to be called “Fay,” the Irish nickname for Francis. “Kids used to like to call me ‘Miss Fay,’ and it led to a lot of tumults when I was younger, but I could handle myself then,” Vincent said. “My father was a great man and I was privileged to carry his name, but the fact is, my sons names are Ted and Bill.”

The twin boys are 22. His daughter, Anne, is 21. Fay Vincent reflected on his own youth, shook his head and said, “the most surprised person in the United States today must be the guy who coached me in American Legion baseball and must be saying, ‘he couldn’t hit, he couldn’t run and he couldn’t throw, but look where it got him.”’