Despite his incredibly short tenure as MLB Commissioner, Giamatti left his mark on the game.
Paul Giamatti is a well-known character actor, an Oscar-nominated leading actor for his performance in the popular film, Sideways (2004). But this article isn’t about Paul; it’s about his dad, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, popularly known as Bart Giamatti.
The elder Giamatti played a variety of roles during his life, including as a professor and, later, as a university president–at Yale University, no less. But he is best known for the final act of his life, Commissioner of Major League Baseball. His love of the game brought him to that role, saying once (as a Red Sox fan), “The only thing I ever wanted was to be president of the American League.”
That didn’t happen, but the next best thing did. In 1986, Giamatti was named president of the National League, leading to his appointment as Commissioner three years later. Giamatti wasn’t just a figurehead either. He spearheaded several improvements in the game, including improving the fan experience and engendering consistency across umpires in interpreting rules and calling games. Giamatti was dedicated to social justice and pressured clubs to hire minority personnel, including managers/coaches, and in the front office.
Giamatti also didn’t shy away from taking action when he believed baseball’s integrity was at stake. His firm judgment regarding Pete Rose and gambling in baseball is something for which Giamatti is widely known and praised. Giamatti also declined to reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson by Commissioner’s rule.
Giamatti accomplished a lot during his days as Commissioner, even though his time in office was short–only five months–the shortest tenure in the game’s history. He died of a heart attack in September 1989 at 51 years of age.
As much as I knew who he was and thought he whe was a good commissioner of the MLB. I disagreed with the Pete Rose decision. Pete served his time. He still has the most hits of all time and is at the top of a lot of statistics. I’ll leave it at that. As for Bart, he did a lot in a short period of time. Thank you for bringing this story to light. I didn’t know some of these things about him. Great article Matthew Paris!