Fay Vincent

NEW YORK -- Fay Vincent, the commissioner of baseball, was hospitalized yesterday with what doctors have diagnosed as an upper respiratory infection."From what I understand, it is not a worsening of the condition but a lingering condition," said deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg. "But because it is lingering, the doctors thought they would keep an eye on him for a few days."Greenberg said Vincent, 52, also had been bothered by pleurisy.

For a sport that traditionally governed its clubs with an every-man-for-himself philosophy, Major League Baseball has become practically collectivist. The collective bargaining agreement ratified last week by club owners will require the teams to share more revenue among themselves than ever before, an average of nearly $260 million annually over the next four years. Expanding on innovations in the last labor deal, baseball has become No. 2 in shared revenue among America's four major- league sports.

Fay Vincent, enjoying his third World Series as commissioner after the first two were tarnished by an earthquake and a blowout, said he's delighted particularly in the play and presence of Kirby Puckett.He's impossible not to like, Vincent said."He's just not the normal-looking 6-foot-3-inch Greek god," Vincent said. "He doesn't look like somebody that can make that play [Saturday night's leaping catch] in center field. And I think we all sort of identify with somebody who's imperfectly designed."

Sen. George Mitchell, the Maine Democrat who on Tuesday asked President Clinton not to nominate him to the Supreme Court, will be offered the job of baseball commissioner, a team owner said yesterday."

WASHINGTON -- If baseball owners care about keeping thei treasured exemption from federal antitrust laws, the best way to show it would be to appoint a strong and independent commissioner to replace Fay Vincent, the strong and independent commissioner they recently forced from office.That was the stern warning issued to owners during hearings of the Senate Antitrust subcommittee yesterday.Hearing testimony from an owner, a players union official, the mayor of San Francisco and an ex-commissioner, among others, the senators ticked off a litany of recent controversies and expressed doubt whether the sport continues to merit its special status with regard to antitrust laws.

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Major League Baseball had never seen the likes of this: a sitting commissioner with 15 months left in his term being asked to leave the office by owners of 18 of the 28 clubs who pay him an annual salary of $650,000 to rule their game.They didn't beat around the bush, those 18 owners. They told him, in no uncertain terms, that baseball "needs a strong leader" in these troubled times and that he wasn't it. They said they would not vote in favor of his re-election when his term expires.

NEW YORK -- If the guillotine is ever to slice, it will slice through a tanned neck.If his head is ever going to roll, the head rolling off the block will have a smile on it.Fay Vincent seemed a man at peace yesterday. "Just another day," said the commissioner of baseball. "Just a day like any other day, isn't it?"Fay Vincent seemed neither bowed nor broken. Jerry Reinsdorf and the Tribune Co. are fighting for their bottom line, while Fay Vincent is fighting for loftier principles. Vincent seemed very much at ease with his battle.

The commissioner has quit, and that means the baseball owners who wanted him out of the way, out of their game, out of their hair, are now one delighted bunch of rich people. They haven't been this happy since the last time they got to raise the price of tickets.You can tell how pleased the owners were by the way they were racing to their fax machines while Fay Vincent's head was still rolling into the basket. Typical fax (stitched together from actual quotes of those club owners who wanted to make 1 and 1A out of Vincent and Jimmy Hoffa)

Sen. George Mitchell, the Maine Democrat who on Tuesday asked President Clinton not to nominate him to the Supreme Court, will be offered the job of baseball commissioner, a team owner said yesterday."

NEW YORK -- His speech to the owners having been delivered, his determination not to relinquish power having been established, baseball's embattled commissioner sat behind his desk in his shirtsleeves yesterday afternoon, clipped the end of a cigar and reviewed the tumultuous events of the past couple of days.The titles of some of the books on the shelf to Fay Vincent's left captured the moment beautifully. Two had the word "chaos" in the title. Another was called "The Reckoning." Still another, "Enough's Enough."

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The winter baseball news continued apace yesterday with the surprise resignation of deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg and the opening of the management-labor bargaining process.But first, a previously unreported holdover occurrence from the owners' daylong meeting Tuesday in Dallas:During a 10-minute break, after Jesse Jackson had concluded his oration on the necessity of increasing minority hirings, he went over to Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott and gave her a hug.Schott, in accepting the embrace, said, "How are you, honey?"

WASHINGTON -- If baseball owners care about keeping thei treasured exemption from federal antitrust laws, the best way to show it would be to appoint a strong and independent commissioner to replace Fay Vincent, the strong and independent commissioner they recently forced from office.That was the stern warning issued to owners during hearings of the Senate Antitrust subcommittee yesterday.Hearing testimony from an owner, a players union official, the mayor of San Francisco and an ex-commissioner, among others, the senators ticked off a litany of recent controversies and expressed doubt whether the sport continues to merit its special status with regard to antitrust laws.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Baseball management certainly has a sense of timing. The 28 major-league owners have chosen Pearl Harbor Day to decide whether they will signal a labor confrontation with the Major League Players Association.They will meet at the winter meetings today to decide whether to reopen collective bargaining with the players. If they do, there is the clear and present danger that the sport will be shut down for some or all of the 1993 season.That seems unlikely, but the union has been preparing for the worst and the owners have set the stage for another labor showdown.

The baseball owners have decided that Marge Schott needs punishing. Let's just say that it's not exactly like the Lone Ranger riding into town to see justice through.These are the same owners who reportedly heard Schott use racial slurs in a conference call . . .. . . four years ago.You will notice that it didn't seem to bother them then. At least not enough to do anything about it.But the tide of political correctness is tugging them now, tugging hard, so they have empaneled an Extremely Important Committee and put on serious faces and, by gum and golly, they're going to do something about that racist Marge.

The commissioner has quit, and that means the baseball owners who wanted him out of the way, out of their game, out of their hair, are now one delighted bunch of rich people. They haven't been this happy since the last time they got to raise the price of tickets.You can tell how pleased the owners were by the way they were racing to their fax machines while Fay Vincent's head was still rolling into the basket. Typical fax (stitched together from actual quotes of those club owners who wanted to make 1 and 1A out of Vincent and Jimmy Hoffa)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Labor Day weekend. It was the beginning for Fay Vincent in 1989. It was the end in 1992. Nice symmetry there.Exactly three years ago, baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti died while reading a book at his Martha's Vineyard house on a Friday afternoon.Vincent was one of Giamatti's best friends and had been serving as deputy commissioner. He was at his Commentaryown summer home on Cape Cod when he learned of Giamatti's death. He became interim commissioner, and within two weeks, the owners gave him full powers and a contract through March 1993.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Labor Day weekend. It was the beginning for Fay Vincent in 1989. It was the end in 1992. Nice symmetry there.Exactly three years ago, baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti died while reading a book at his Martha's Vineyard house on a Friday afternoon.Vincent was one of Giamatti's best friends and had been serving as deputy commissioner. He was at his Commentaryown summer home on Cape Cod when he learned of Giamatti's death. He became interim commissioner, and within two weeks, the owners gave him full powers and a contract through March 1993.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The revenge of the nerds is pretty much complete. It started in the early '80s, when bookish David Stern ++ replaced political smoothy Lawrence O'Brien as commissioner and turned the National Basketball Association into a multicontinent attraction.By the end of the decade, the National Football League was being run by Paul Tagliabue and baseball by Fay Vincent.Fay Vincent!The face of sports administration has changed. Glasses are in. Glamour is out.All of which helps explain Mike Tranghese, ruler of one of the most powerful college basketball conferences on earth, and a man of hopelessly uninspiring physical presence.

Give Fay Vincent some credit. He finally set his ego aside, did the decent thing and resigned.By doing so, the eighth commissioner of baseball averted a potentially ugly scene tomorrow in St. Louis, where the owners were prepared to fire him -- yes, go to court, if necessary, to get rid of the man they never should have hired in the first place.There had been talk that if Vincent had refused to resign and insisted on presiding over tomorrow's owners' meeting, a guard might have been posted at the door to prevent him from entering.

The Orioles, who never like to put on paper any agreement they might be able to amend in their favor later, have signed a 30-year lease on Camden Yards when they had agreed originally to only 15 years.Why?To show how much they really appreciate the new stadium and the folks who built it for them and who also fill it up night after night?That is, I guess, a possibility.Or, how about this: Because Eli Jacobs wants to get his affairs in order so he can sell the team before the repo man knocks on the door?