Vincent Evokes Memory of Giamatti : Baseball: The new commissioner greets owners and outlines his plans for next year.

Commissioner Fay Vincent, often evoking the memory of Bart Giamatti, outlined his ideas for labor negotiations, expansion and player relations today in the commissioner’s annual winter meetings speech.

Vincent took over as commissioner when Giamatti died in September. He had been deputy commissioner for six months.

“I often think of what I have had to enjoy and what Bart has not,” Vincent said. “He didn’t get to his World Series, and he would have loved it. He didn’t get to make this state-of-the-game address, and I delight in thinking of what he might have said.”

Baseball’s most pressing issue is labor negotiations. The agreement with the players’ association expires on Dec. 31.

The key issues are salary arbitration, potential changes in free agency and revenue sharing.

“Labor negotiations must not become a morality problem, at least not in baseball,” Vincent said.

“This is a financial issue in which two sides must allocate a scarce resource. Nobody wants a work stoppage. Being an optimist, I don’t believe there will be one.”

Vincent also called for a structure that permits a small franchise to compete with the larger markets.

A proposed revenue sharing plan would be used for this purpose.

Montreal owner Charles Bronfman, whose club lost pitchers Mark Langston, Bryn Smith and Pascual Perez to free agency, said his team cannot compete with the bigger TV markets.

Just weeks after being named commissioner, Vincent was faced with a major crisis when an earthquake hit the Bay Area in the early evening of Oct. 17, minutes before Game 3 of the World Series at Candlestick Park.

Vincent decided to delay the World Series until the area was ready and was praised by government officials for his compassion.

“It was a season of high mountains and low valleys,” Vincent said.

The game’s lowest point was the ongoing investigation into allegations that Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose bet on baseball.

The issue dominated Giamatti’s short tenure as commissioner and led to Rose’s banishment from baseball a week before Giamatti’s death.

“Bart’s most remembered statement is ‘Nobody is bigger than the game,’ ” Vincent said. “I will follow that.

“We must realize that on and off the field, baseball is a game of rules.”

Vincent said his plans for the game include an improved drug program, expansion, fairness in hiring, and marketing of baseball in Europe.

“Within 90 days of a labor agreement, the National League will announce a definite timetable for the addition of two teams to the National League,” he said.

“Bart brought me to baseball, and I am simply thrilled to be here,” Vincent said in concluding his 40-minute speech. “I view the challenges ahead with confidence but with some real concern. Baseball is healthy but there is much to be done to make it better.”