Fay Vincent Quotes (52 Quotes)


    The final ballots represent players, managers, executives and builders who are top-tier candidates and worthy of review for consideration for election to the Hall of Fame.

    The committee's focus is on what we positively know about Buck, and that is he was a very important part of our baseball history, not just Negro League history, and he was honored by being a very strong candidate for election.

    So his choices are he can do nothing and sort of fudge it -- but you can't get away with that. The public and Congress are going to want something done. ... I've said this about Bud, and I think I'm right, his first instinct is always wrong. The second is almost always right.

    Then Reds owner Marge Schott , who was cheap, didn't like the players or the manager calling long distance from the clubhouse,

    Nobody has more regard for Buck than I do. We're old friends. So I'm disappointed he wasn't elected. Yet, the ballots were secret. I have no idea who voted, and it's impossible to know what their reasons were.


    The Scouting Report - Professional Athletics.

    Certainly toward the end of the season, you and I could be in a ballpark and they might say the crowd is 30,000, and we could look around and see that there was no more than 10,000.

    It was a terrible day for baseball, it was a worse day for Congress.

    This is an effort that is 30 years too late. This should have been done when a lot of them were alive.

    Buck O'Neil has been a great credit to baseball. He's a friend of all of ours. He has credentials that are absolutely wonderful. (But) the committee did not elect Buck O'Neil.

    It doesn't mean (Selig) shouldn't investigate, but it's going to be a very difficult position for him. If people suggest that he could use the 'best interest of baseball' clause to suspend Bonds, I think it would take the union about three minutes before a federal judge to get that enjoined.

    I think he (Selig) is probably better able to get support among owners, ... But they're trying to roll back 25 years of labor agreements in one round. I was telling them the best you can do is incremental improvement - it's going to take a long time to straighten out this. They didn't want to hear that.

    I don't think the individuals are going to be willing to discuss their individual votes. We agreed we would not do that.

    We gave each candidate a fair hearing, and I think the results will speak for themselves.

    Fay Vincent, the former baseball commissioner, made his own assessment. A couple of weeks ago he resigned from the board of trustees at the Jesuit-run Fairfield University and refused to accept an honorary degree from Sacred Heart University to protest what happened to Reese. I'm really worried that some Catholic organizations, especially universities, are at some risk, ... How can you call yourself a university without free debate.

    I'm sorry that we're late. I'm sorry that we couldn't do this 30 or 40 years ago when some of our candidates were alive. But we're here now to make this right.

    It's only a great sadness that we didn't do this 30 or 40 years ago. I'm sorry that we're late, but I'm proud that we're doing it.

    One of the first things to do is talk to Bonds. Will he cooperate If he doesn't, I think that leads to disaster for Bonds. The union would make a big mistake by being too defensive here. Congress could step in.

    There's nothing legally Selig can do, but if I were him I'd go out and see Bonds, and I would try to get him to tell me exactly what the truth is. Depending on what he tells me, I'd try to get him to go public and tell the public what the truth is.

    It's not in baseball's interest or the players' interest to be taking this stance. It's the people's game.

    He's in a very tough situation, and that's why I think it's the worst problem for baseball since the Black Sox. Because it's so amorphous and so big and so murky. ... For the first time Selig has the awkward position of having to authorize an investigation where he may be a target. No commissioner has ever been in that position.

    It's tempting, because as one senator said to me, 'We know if we invite baseball down, we'll draw a crowd'.

    They were young, just out of college in those days,

    What a great sadness there is that we didn't do this 30 or 40 years ago.

    This is a great honor and an historic moment in the history of the Hall of Fame. What a great sadness there is that we didn't do this 30 or 40 years earlier. . . . These people who were candidates were greatly honored by being candidates, I'm sure, but it would have been nicer had we been able to do this 30 or 40 years ago and have so many more alive. So, I'm sorry we're late, but I'm proud that we're doing it.

    Recent indications are up to 50 percent of the players in the 90s were using steroids. It puts a real cloud over that period in baseball.

    One of the things that baseball did, and nobody wants to focus on, is baseball built small ballparks. They made it easy to hit home runs. Look at Houston their left field is a joke. Baseball played to the home run as if it was the only great event in the game.

    I don't think Bud wants a major confrontation. On other hand he wants major changes, and that's going to lead to a major confrontation, ... The union is very well run. They win all the legal fights and baseball has to fold. There isn't much history that says the owners have a very good chance.

    The thing that makes this different from the Rose investigation is the scope. This could take (Mitchell) into all sorts of nooks and crannies. This will be a nightmare for everybody, but baseball has to get the moral high ground back.

    The reason we care is these are games we play, and the defining part of a game is the rules. And if you don't follow rules, you don't have a game. Then you have a movie or professional wrestling.

    This is a coup for commissioner Bud Selig. I'm surprised it's as good as it is.

    I believe that, too, it's hard to believe that anybody could not believe that.

    My understanding is that there won't be a deal unless he admits he bet on baseball. I thought for years he would never admit it. Now, I don't know.

    The whole history of this issue of race in our society is a topic that involves very bad timing. These people who were candidates were greatly honored by being candidates, I'm sure, but it would have been so much nicer had we been able to do this 30 or 40 years ago and have so many more alive.

    It's not perfect. But George Mitchell is credible. He should do a good job.

    I think Mitchell will be good. He's been around baseball. He's a strong person, and people can have confidence in him that he'll do a good job.

    I don't think Bud really has any choice now. If he does nothing, Congress will surely jump in again. They're going want answers about Bonds. I think there's very little room for Bud to maneuver here. Baseball needs to have its own independent investigation.

    The players are protected under the federal statutes. That's a mistake a lot of people have made, thinking the commissioner can do whatever he wants. His powers over the players are very limited.

    The economics of baseball are the big problem. The big clubs make a lot of money and the little clubs don't.

    You have to focus on the one guy. Otherwise, you'd never finish the job and it would wind up costing millions and millions. But you've got facts to go on now, and it would behoove Bonds to cooperate. I think he really has to cooperate if he wants his records to count for anything. Stonewalling won't work.

    We think he made money betting on baseball. And people are stupid. They say, 'Why do you care if he bet on his own team' Well, that is the point, you care because that night when he is betting he brings in his best relief pitcher. The next night when he isn't betting he can bring in anybody. The game is corrupted.

    A lot of people are asking why doesn't Selig just invoke the 'best interests' clause and deal with this. I try to explain to them that the 'best interest' clause is irrelevant in labor because of all the players protected (federal law). ... He has almost

    In some respects, it's the most damaging and difficult mess for baseball since the White Sox scandal in 1919.

    I think the investigation is the right step. I don't think the issue is punishment, I think it's 'Shouldn't the players be called to task for cheating, even if there is no punishment' I think baseball has to recapture the moral high ground.

    This is 10 times, maybe 50 times more difficult. I would guess it would take at least a year.

    If you had a jury and said, 'We have one segment of evidence and we're going to present it,' that would be it. There is nothing else to bet on but baseball during the summer months. The bookie told us Rose called him every night. So we had his end of the conversation. We had the phone records. I mean how clear can it be.

    I don't think the players union could do much about it if he decides the records are not going to exist anymore. It's something the commissioner has pretty strong jurisdiction over.

    I knew who John Dowd was, but he wasn't connected at all with baseball.

    I think he should hire somebody like John Dowd or set up a committee. He needs to do that, maybe headed by Mario Cuomo or George Mitchell, somebody of that ilk.

    John is the hero. He did a great job. Now Rose admits John was correct.


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