Angelo Bartlett “Bart” Giamatti

B: Apr 4, 1938 Boston, MA — D: Sep 1, 1989, Marthas Vineyard, MA

After completing his term as president of Yale University in 1986, Giamatti achieved a lifelong ambition by becoming president of the National League and, in 1988, the seventh Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Sadly, he died a year later. Giamatti graduated magna cum laude from Yale in 1960. His scholarly work focused on Renaissance literature, but he also found time to write about his first love, baseball. Giamatti convinced Pete Rose to become voluntarily ineligible to be a part of baseball because Rose had gambled on games. Giamatti was the grandson of an Ellis Island immigrant, the son of a college professor, and the father of noted actor Paul Giamatti.