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Vincent, who was born in Waterbury and spent most of his life after baseball in New Canaan, had undergone treatment for bladder cancer. Complications from radiation therapy caused him to stop chemotherapy, his wife told CBS News.
Vincent took the reins of Major League Baseball in 1989 following the sudden death of A. Bartlett Giamatti. He guided the league through 1992, when he resigned following a no-confidence vote from the owners, according to MLB.com.
The Yale Law School graduate is best remembered for guiding the league after the earthquake during the 1989 World Series.
“Fay Vincent played a vital role in ensuring that the 1989 (San Francisco) Bay Area World Series resumed responsibly following the earthquake prior to Game Three, and he oversaw the process that resulted in the 1993 National League expansion to Denver and Miami,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement to MLB.com. “Mr. Vincent served the game during a time of many challenges, and he remained proud of his association with our National Pastime throughout his life.
"On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Fay’s family and friends.”
Before joining the MLB, Vincent was an investor and led Columbia Pictures after Coca-Cola purchased the movie studio in 1982.
Connecticut state leaders said Vincent led a remarkable life.
“From his years living in New Haven and Hamden to Greenwich and New Canaan: Fay Vincent lived a home run of a life," State Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) said in a statement. "He reminded us that baseball teaches us how to deal with failure. The game, he observed, ‘considers errors to be part of the game, part of its rigorous truth.’ May he rest in peace.”
Vincent served as a private investor after stepping away from baseball, but he returned to the game he loved in 1998 to lead the New England Collegiate Baseball League until 2004.
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