Belated Birthday Greetings to Fay Vincent - I'd meant to have this out yesterday in time for your 70th birthday but I didn't get to it in time.
If the name doesn't ring a bell for you, Fay Vincent was the Commissioner of Baseball for a brief time from September 1989 to September of 1992. He was supposed to fill out the term of Bart Giamatti, the Commissioner that preceded him and died suddenly after appointing Vincent to the newly created deputy commissioner post.
Commissioner Vincent got off to a rocky start - perhaps an omen of things to come - when he presided over the Giants/Athletics World Series game that was interupted by an earthquake. That major earthquake was minor compared to baseball events beginning the following year.
The next spring, the owners staged a lockout of spring training, requiring Vincent to intercede between the Players Union and the owners. He was able to get an agreement reached and baseball started, but late.
A few months later, he had to butt heads with baseball's all time butt-head, George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner had reneged on a contract with outfielder Dave Winfield and Winfield had the gall to sue Steinbrenner. In retaliation, Steinbrenner paid a local gambler to try to dig up something Steinbrenner could use to blackmail Winfield and Commissioner Vincent promptly banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life. Steinbrenner than had to run the Yankees from behind the scenes while plotting Vincent's ovethrow. This move scared the owners as they had thought they were above the rules that everyone else had to adhere to.
Next Vincent made the mistake of banning Steve Howe from baseball for life for his repeated and mulitple involvement with drugs. Howe, by then a Yankee, had been released from several teams because of his drug problem. He'd been given chance after chance, been in and out of rehab programs, and couldn't get a handle on it. Commissioner Vincent drew a line in the sand, letting the players know that drugs would not be tolerated in baseball. That move incised the players union as well as the owners who both chose to turn a blind eye to the drug problem.
However Commissioner Vincent's biggest mistake, the one that got him a vote of 'no confidence' from the owners, was ruling in favor of the game of baseball. At every opportunity, Fay Vincent, a man of character and integrity, did what he thought was right for the game and nothing else. He didn't side with the players unless he thought they were right. More important, at least to his future, he didn't side with the owners either, every one of which considered himself to be Vincent's boss and Vincent to be a disrepectful employee.
When Vincent resigned in September 1992, instead of appointing his deputy, another true baseball man, the owners instead picked one of their own as a 'temporary' commissioner while they went though the motions of finding a replacement.
Sixteen years later, 'Bumbling' Bud Selig, the 'temporary' commissioner is still there. As to George Steinbrenner and Steve Howe? Reinstated by Bumbling Bud. And the drug problem? Read the paper. You didn't really think the owners were going to turn their million dollar studs out to pasture before they'd gotten every dimes worth from them did you?
If the name doesn't ring a bell for you, Fay Vincent was the Commissioner of Baseball for a brief time from September 1989 to September of 1992. He was supposed to fill out the term of Bart Giamatti, the Commissioner that preceded him and died suddenly after appointing Vincent to the newly created deputy commissioner post.
Commissioner Vincent got off to a rocky start - perhaps an omen of things to come - when he presided over the Giants/Athletics World Series game that was interupted by an earthquake. That major earthquake was minor compared to baseball events beginning the following year.
The next spring, the owners staged a lockout of spring training, requiring Vincent to intercede between the Players Union and the owners. He was able to get an agreement reached and baseball started, but late.
A few months later, he had to butt heads with baseball's all time butt-head, George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner had reneged on a contract with outfielder Dave Winfield and Winfield had the gall to sue Steinbrenner. In retaliation, Steinbrenner paid a local gambler to try to dig up something Steinbrenner could use to blackmail Winfield and Commissioner Vincent promptly banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life. Steinbrenner than had to run the Yankees from behind the scenes while plotting Vincent's ovethrow. This move scared the owners as they had thought they were above the rules that everyone else had to adhere to.
Next Vincent made the mistake of banning Steve Howe from baseball for life for his repeated and mulitple involvement with drugs. Howe, by then a Yankee, had been released from several teams because of his drug problem. He'd been given chance after chance, been in and out of rehab programs, and couldn't get a handle on it. Commissioner Vincent drew a line in the sand, letting the players know that drugs would not be tolerated in baseball. That move incised the players union as well as the owners who both chose to turn a blind eye to the drug problem.
However Commissioner Vincent's biggest mistake, the one that got him a vote of 'no confidence' from the owners, was ruling in favor of the game of baseball. At every opportunity, Fay Vincent, a man of character and integrity, did what he thought was right for the game and nothing else. He didn't side with the players unless he thought they were right. More important, at least to his future, he didn't side with the owners either, every one of which considered himself to be Vincent's boss and Vincent to be a disrepectful employee.
When Vincent resigned in September 1992, instead of appointing his deputy, another true baseball man, the owners instead picked one of their own as a 'temporary' commissioner while they went though the motions of finding a replacement.
Sixteen years later, 'Bumbling' Bud Selig, the 'temporary' commissioner is still there. As to George Steinbrenner and Steve Howe? Reinstated by Bumbling Bud. And the drug problem? Read the paper. You didn't really think the owners were going to turn their million dollar studs out to pasture before they'd gotten every dimes worth from them did you?
