Vincent Remains Adamant : Baseball: Commissioner refuses owners’ request to call a special meeting and vows to serve out term.

A majority of the 28 major league baseball club owners have asked Commissioner Fay Vincent to call a meeting to discuss his staying in office. But Vincent, in a letter to each on Thursday, said he would not call such a meeting and reiterated that he would not resign.

Reached at his vacation home on Cape Cod, Mass., Vincent declined Saturday to discuss his letter or the owners’ request. That request came in a letter signed by Bobby Brown and Bill White, the American and National League presidents.

Vincent, however, confirmed that he has hired Washington attorney Brendan Sullivan Jr. in the event he has to respond “to any inappropriate action” by the owners.

Under the terms of the Major League Agreement, a commissioner can’t be fired, nor can his powers be diminished during his term of office.

In his five-page letter, Vincent said that he had “too much affection and respect for baseball” to take the easy way out and resign.

“Even if there is a meeting and a vote to remove me from office or an attempt to limit my powers, all in contravention of the Major League Agreement and my employment agreement, I will not leave,” Vincent wrote.

Vincent’s term expires March 31, 1994. The reelection of a commissioner must be considered at a joint owners meeting not more than 15 months, nor fewer than six months, before the conclusion of his term.

Vincent repeatedly has said he would not resign because of its impact on the commissioner’s office and authority, but he suggested in Toronto last week that he would not seek reelection.

Among the owners believed to be strongest in their opposition to Vincent are Stanton Cook of the Chicago Cubs, Peter O’Malley of the Dodgers, Jackie Autry of the Angels, Bud Selig of the Milwaukee Brewers and Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox.

O’Malley said Saturday that a majority of the 28 clubs requested the meeting and that the Dodgers were one of them. Jackie Autry said that the Angels were another and that “a major majority” of the clubs want “nothing more than a performance evaluation with Vincent.”

She did not define “major majority,” but an American League colleague said a no-confidence vote in Vincent would be supported by more than 20 clubs.

Neither Autry nor O’Malley would comment on the nature of Vincent’s letter or what the owners might do if the request for a meeting is rejected. But a National League owner, requesting anonymity, said there is a strong likelihood of a meeting with or without Vincent and that “some in the legal profession would dispute the commissioner’s position.”

Of the owners’ request for a meeting, O’Malley said, “I think it’s timely, appropriate and the right thing to do.”

The opposition to Vincent has grown in response to his decision to override the National League constitution and order realignment, his division of the $180 million in expansion income and his refusal to give up his authority in labor matters.

The 28 owners are expected to meet via conference call Monday to vote on the sale of the Detroit Tigers, but a formal meeting is not scheduled until Sept. 9 in St. Louis, when the proposed sale of the San Francisco Giants to a group that would move the team to the Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg, Fla., had been expected to dominate the agenda.