A. BARTLETT GIAMATTI 1938--1989 : Giamatti’s Reorganization Being Put to Work

Bart Giamatti, who died Friday after only five months as baseball’s seventh commissioner, may have made it easier for the game to select an interim successor by his reorganization of the commissioner’s office in April.

The key provision of the reorganization was the appointment of a deputy commissioner to serve as a Giamatti liason and supervise the corporate, licensing and broadcasting divisions.

Giamatti selected a longtime friend, Francis T. (Fay) Vincent Jr., an attorney and former chairman and chief executive officer of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., as well as the senior vice president of the Coca-Cola Company.

Vincent, an important intermediary in the gambling investigation of former Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose and well versed in the daily workings of the commissioner’s office, would seem to be a logical choice to serve as interim commissioner, accelerating the often fractious and lengthy search for a fulltime successor.

Baseball rules provide that in the event of a commissioner’s death, the Executive Council takes over the game’s operation. The Executive Council is composed of American League President Bobby Brown, National League President Bill White and four club owners from each league.

The National League representatives are Peter O’Malley of the Dodgers, Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies, John McMullen of the Houston Astros and Douglas Danforth of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The American League representatives are Jim Campbell of the Detroit Tigers, Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox and Haywood Sullivan of the Boston Red Sox. George Argyros was also a member of the council before selling the Seattle Mariners last week. A replacement for Argyros has yet to be selected.

The Executive Council’s first order of business will be to select an interim commissioner. Vincent is not automatic. His position was created by Giamatti and is not specificed in the rules.

The rules permit the selection of a commissioner pro tem for a term not to exceed three years.

“I imagine we’ll be on the phone soon,” Reinsdorf said Friday.

An owners’ meeting, already scheduled for Sept. 13-14 in Milwaukee, will also focus on the question of an interim and fulltime successor, a spokesman for the commissioner’s office said. The selection of a fulltime successor requires the majority approval of the 26 owners.

Vincent is the immediate candidate for both jobs, though his comparative anonymity and penchant for behind-the-scenes roles could work against him.

Amid the shock of Giamatti’s sudden death, there were only a few names being mentioned Friday as potential successors.

League presidents White and Brown are possibilities, with White being a minority candidate at a time when baseball is stressing affirmative action.

Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig, who headed the search committees that nominated both Giamatti and predecessor Peter Ueberroth and who was considered a candidate himself, may again receive support.

Selig’s general manager, Harry Dalton; New York Mets President Frank Cashen, and Oakland Athletics Vice President Sandy Alderson were among the first wave of baseball names to emerge. The election of Ueberroth and Giamatti, however, showed a willingness on the owners’ part to go outside the game for personalities with strong images and credentials in other areas. Will it happen again? On a sad Friday, no one seemed in a mood to weigh that possibility.