Remembering baseball's Fay Vincent the night he came to town

He was the players' commissioner. That's why he was railroaded out of the job.

Good morning, all! I hope your week is off to a terrific start!

Former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent died over the weekend at his Vero Beach home. He was 86. Vincent was one of us, from my neck of the woods, and he never forgot it, which endeared him to many.

His dad was born in my hometown of Torrington, CT and attended Torrington High School. He went on to star in baseball and football at Yale, worked for a utility company and was an umpire and football official. Fay was a Waterbury, CT native. When he was MLB Commissioner, we invited him to return to Torrington on what turned out to be a night to remember.

While I was in between broadcasting jobs, I wrote for the Torrington-based newspaper The Register-Citizen. I wrote a column that the Torrington High School gymnasium should be named after former coach and athletic director Cornelius “Connie” Donahue, a star athlete and coach at the school. Donahue, a mentor of mine as he was to so many, had long since retired but was still active on the local scene, and I thought it would be a nice honor for someone, who had given so much back to the community, to not only have the gym named after him but be alive to enjoy the moment.

The Torrington Board of Education immediately shot down my idea, claiming it did not name “things” after school administrators or officials. I am not going to kid you, Donahue also had his critics - who doesn’t after having been in a position for almost 40 years - and I believed that was the real issue behind the board’s firm “no.” So I wrote another column in which I stated, if the board’s edict was correct, why did they just name a street on which a new school had been constructed after the former school superintendent, who by the way had been a close friend of Donahue’s? The board reversed its “policy” and voted to name the gym after Donahue.

An event had to be planned for the honor and the athletic director at the school, a former Donahue associate and another mentor and dear friend of mine, Lou Moscaritolo, asked me to serve on the committee to plan the night, which was to occur before a high school basketball game.

During one of our initial planning sessions, I suggested we invite the then Commissioner of Baseball, Fay Vincent, to the event. Vincent’s father and Donahue had been good friends. I am sure the commissioner received countless requests for appearances but why not ask? Lou would repeatedly tell me, “Dan, always shoot for the top.” Now was my chance to tell coach Lou to do the same. I even had the phone number to the commissioner’s office. (There was no email back then.)

I was in the office when Lou dialed the phone. After the phone call ended, he turned to me and said “The commissioner’s secretary did not say ‘no.’ She said she would get back to me.” Within two days, Vincent’s secretary called and said the commissioner would attend.

That got the ball rolling. A big pregame ceremony was planned and I had the honor of serving as MC. The commissioner combined his visit with a trip to ESPN - about a 30-minute drive away - and when he arrived in Torrington was as gracious as could be, granting interviews to the local media and statewide TV stations, covering what had grown into a big event. I also had to go over the itinerary with Vincent and as I did, could not believe I was giving instructions to the commissioner of Major League Baseball.

As you might imagine, the place was packed to the rafters, on a snowy night no less. Donahue was so happy with the honor and Vincent, who offered laudatory comments, then brought the house down with a line that still resonates today: “I came here tonight, because my father would have wanted me to be here.”

The baseball commissioner’s appearance that night is still remembered by many, some 35 years later. And why wouldn’t it? How often does the MLB commissioner come to town?

As for Vincent, he was railroaded out of the commissioner’s job because he had the “mistaken notion” he should be a steward of the game, serving owners, players and fans. The owners thought otherwise. They believed - and still do - the commissioner worked for the owners, who reminded Vincent of that with a “no-confidence” vote. He resigned shortly after.

Vincent’s visit to Torrington was not a one-night stand. He returned to attend other Torrington High athletic events on occasion and later became commissioner of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, of which Torrington was a member. He would even attend some games at Torrington’s iconic Fuessenich Park, where his dad once umpired games. He also became a prolific author and appeared as a guest on my radio program several times.

Fay Vincent led a full life. He became a successful lawyer on Wall St., served as the head of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., executive vice president of Coca-Cola and of course commissioner of Major League Baseball. But he never forgot his roots. How he led his life should serve as a lesson to us all.

That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing. Look for other content, including podcasts, throughout the coming days and most importantly, have a terrific week!

DAN