In his second month as the commissioner of baseball, Fay Vincent, working by candlelight, open-collared shirt and a proper low-volume sense of empathy and perspective, steered the 1989 World Series through the enormous tragedy of the Bay Area earthquake.
In his first season on the job, he oversaw a lockout, banned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and defended the ban of Pete Rose, a decision made by Bart Giamatti, his predecessor, the previous year with Vincent’s counsel.
