VERO BEACH, Fla. — Former Major League Baseball commissioner Francis T. “Fay” Vincent has died, MLB announced Sunday. He was 86.
Vincent had been battling bladder cancer and underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatment, which led to health complications that included bleeding, said his wife, Christina. He asked for treatment to stop and died Saturday at a hospital in Vero Beach, Florida.
Vincent served as MLB’s eighth commissioner from 1989-92. He took over as MLB commissioner in September 1989 following the sudden death of A. Bartlett Giamatti, and was replaced by Allan H. “Bud” Selig in September 1992.
“Fay Vincent played a vital role in ensuring that the 1989 Bay Area World Series resumed responsibly following the earthquake prior to Game Three, and he oversaw the process that resulted in the 1993 National League expansion to Denver and Miami,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, per MLB. “Mr. Vincent served the game during a time of many challenges, and he remained proud of his association with our National Pastime throughout his life. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Fay’s family and friends.”
Born May 29, 1938, in Waterbury, Connecticut, Vincent attended Williams College in Massachusetts. As a freshman, Vincent broke his back and was paralyzed from the chest down for months after attempting to climb out of his fourth-floor dorm window when a friend locked him in the room as a prank. An initial diagnosis indicated Vincent may never walk again, but he eventually regained the strength to walk with the assistance of a cane, per MLB.
Prior to becoming MLB commissioner, Vincent held a number of prominent roles in the law, finance and entertainment industries. After earned his law degree from Yale, Vincent became a partner at Caplin & Drysdale, a law firm in Washington, D.C. He also served as associate director of the division of corporation finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the chairman of Columbia Pictures and the senior vice president of Coca-Cola.
While Vincent’s term as MLB commissioner was relatively brief, he oversaw and solved a number of major challenges for the league.
Just one month after being voted to MLB commissioner, Vincent delayed the 1989 World Series for 10 days during the middle of the series due to the Loma Prieta earthquake in California’s Bay Area just prior to Game 3 on Oct. 17, 1989. The series resumed on Oct. 27, and ended the following day when the Oakland A’s swept the San Francisco Giants.
The following season in 1990, Vincent permanently banned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner from the day-to-day management of his team after he paid a gambler $40,000 to find dirt about Yankees star Dave Winfield. Vincent reinstated Steinbrenner two years later in 1992.
Vincent also played an integral role in bringing MLB franchises to Florida and Colorado with the expansion of the Marlins and Rockies, respectively, ahead of the 1993 season.
In 1994, however, Vincent resigned as MLB commissioner after he was pressured by 18 of MLB’s 28 owners issuing a “no confidence” vote regarding his position in September 1992.
After his time as MLB commissioner, Vincent became a private investor, author and president of the New England Collegiate Baseball League from 1998-2004. He published his autobiography, “The Last Commissioner: A Baseball Valentine,” in 2002.
“All through my life, I have been a collector of stories,” Vincent wrote. “I enjoy hearing good stories and I like to tell them, too. I know of no sport that produces stories the way baseball does.”
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