Bud Selig - Related Biography: Commissioner Fay Vincent

Fay Vincent, the commissioner of baseball replaced by Bud Selig, says he harbors no hard feelings against his successor, at least not personally. But he has had some harsh words for Selig's leadership abilities—or lack thereof.

Vincent, deputy commissioner under Bart Giamatti, was swept into the commissioner's office after Giamatti died suddenly of a heart attack in September 1989. He ran afoul of the baseball club owners almost from the start but particularly angered them with his decision to restructure major league baseball's four divisions into six. Selig worked with others to oust Vincent and succeeded in September 1992.

He was born Francis Thomas Vincent Jr. in Waterbury, Connecticut, on May 29, 1938. Known almost from birth as "Fay," the Irish nickname for Francis, Vincent received his bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1960 and then attended Yale University Law School, graduating in 1963. From 1963 to 1978, he was a corporate attorney in New York and Washington, D.C. In 1978 he served as associate director of corporate finance for the Securities and Exchange Commission. From 1978 until 1988 he was chairman and chief operating officer of Columbia Pictures Industries. He came to Major League Baseball as deputy commissioner and COO in 1989. Vincent is married to the former Valerie McMahon, with whom he has three children: Anne and twins William and Edward.