Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Faye Vincent, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball, emphasizes strict morals at Stamford's Civility in America series


Faye Vincent spoke about civility in baseball
at Stamford's Ferguson library last night 
                                                    

Stamford played host to Faye Vincent last night.

 He was introduced by Stamford's Bobby Valentine and Ralph Branca who is the last surviving team member of the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers. This was the year that Jackie Robinson,  also a resident of Stamford, broke the color barrier. 

Both Bobby and Ralph characterized Faye as the man who does things right. 

These remarks could not be more right on. 

Faye spoke convincingly from his notes. 

He said it was only appropriate that Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life because betting on baseball is the top crime. "If you get caught, you're out for life."  It's not about PR he said; its about deterrence. 

There will be no redemption or Hall of Fame for Rose. 

When questioned about steroids or performance enhancing drugs (peds), Vincent stressed that if you are caught, then you should be out. 

He also spoke about  little-known civilities on the diamond. One such example he gave occurs when a batter fouls a ball off and the ball directly hits the catcher on his mask. To give the catcher some time to recover, the umpire will first dust off home plate. Then he will leisurely walk to the pitcher's mound and hand a new ball to the pitcher. He will then head back to the batter's box and again dust off the plate.

Vincent grew up in Waterbury Connecticut, attended Williams College and earned his law degree from Yale. 

After practicing corporate banking and securities law, he was named President and CEO of Columbia Pictures. He was then promoted to be Executive Vice President of Coca Cola, responsible for entertainment activities. 

Kudos to Faye, Stamford and all the sponsors  of last night's event. 


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