The Last Commissioner; A Baseball Valentine

by Fay Vincent

• ISBN13: 9780743244527
• ISBN10: 0743244524
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-24
• Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER

Summary

On a beautiful July morning in 1991, three men gathered in a hotel suite for an informal breakfast and conversation. The discussion ranged widely over events and characters of the past, famous names and fabled accomplishments flowing along with the coffee and juice. Two of them, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, were the ultimate symbols of athletic glory for generations of American men. The third man, Fay Vincent, was living a dream, sitting with and asking questions of his boyhood heroes. Fay Vincent never set out to be the commissioner of baseball. He got into the game alongside his good friend A. Bartlett Giamatti, as deputy commissioner, when Giamatti was named to the sport's highest office in 1989. They spent their first spring and summer dealing with Pete Rose's gambling, and Vincent's legal expertise complemented his friend's moral thunder. But that was to be their only season working side by side, as Bart Giamatti's heart gave out just days after the announcement of the Rose suspension. Vincent found himself the only logical candidate to fill a position as guardian of the best interests of the game he loves.

Author Biography

Francis T. Vincent, Jr., was the eighth commissioner of Major League Baseball, serving from September 13, 1989, to September 7, 1992. Before that, he was Chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures, and an executive vice president of the Coca-Cola Company. He is now a private investor and president and chairman of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league that uses wooden bats. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Vero Beach, Florida.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

JOE AND TED

OTHER LEGENDS

Chapter Two

FAY VINCENT, SR.

THE UMPS

Chapter Three

BART

BOSOX

Chapter Four

BART AND ROSE

MANAGERS AND OWNERS

Chapter Five

EARTHQUAKE

MODERNS

Chapter Six

GEORGE

A BOY AND HIS YANKEES

Chapter Seven

41 & 43

GUARDS AND GUARDIANS

Chapter Eight

BASEBALL IS SORRY

SLICK AND CO.

Chapter Nine

TOMORROW

HOME

Index