Vincent, Fay (1938– )

US corporate lawyer and baseball commissioner. He became president and chief executive officer of Columbia Pictures Industries 1978–83 and head of Coca-Cola's entertainment division 1983–88. He was commissioner of baseball 1989–92.

A series of crises made Vincent unpopular with some baseball team owners. After he unilaterally announced that some National League teams would be realigned in their divisions, he was asked in September 1992 to resign by a 18–9 vote of the owners. Although at first vowing to fight, he soon resigned and returned to private law practice, thereafter becoming a prominent commentator on broader public issues.

Vincent was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. An aspiring athlete, he suffered a back injury in college and became a law student. He took his law degree at Yale in 1963 and practised law in New York City and Washington, DC, 1963–78. In 1989 he was invited to assist A Bartlett Giamatti as commissioner of baseball, and on Giamatti's premature death Vincent was named commissioner.