A. Bartlett Giamatti

1938 – 1989

Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti was an American Renaissance literature scholar, the 19th president of Yale University, and the seventh commissioner of Major League Baseball. As MLB commissioner he negotiated and announced the lifetime banishment of all-time hits leader Pete Rose for gambling on baseball in August 1989; he died of a heart attack just eight days later, at age 51, after only five months in the role. His writings on baseball, particularly the essay "The Green Fields of the Mind," remain widely quoted in American sportswriting.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM