Outgoing Yale President To Become Big Leaguer

When asked last year what he would do upon retiring, President Derek C. Bok replied he might join the major leagues. He was kidding.

But when Yale University President A. Bartlett Giamatti, a Renaissance literature scholar, said he wanted to become president of baseball's National League, he was dead serious.

And in an unusual career change, earlier this month Giamatti took over the post he desired.

"People of letters have always gravitated toward sport. I've always found [baseball] the most satisfying and nourishing of games, outside of literature," Giamatti told The Boston Globe last week.

Giamatti said his lack of baseball experience would not affect how he performs the duties of his new office. "Anyone who is president of a major university has close contact with organized sports," Giamatti, Yale's president for eight years, said.

As National League president, Giamatti will be responsible for scheduling games, hiring umpires and making their schedules, and ensuring that sales of franchises conform to league regulations.

The current presidents of both leagues said in interviews this week that Giamatti was a quality draft pick.

"He seems to me like a very fine choice," said Charles S. ("Chub") Feeney, whom Giamatti will succeed in the fall. "He's highly intelligent and loves baseball," said Feeney, a Dartmouth alumnus who as General Manager of the New York Giants helped orchestrate the team's move to San Fransisco.

"I think [Giamatti] was an excellent choice," said American League President Dr. Robert W. ("Bobby") Brown. "While he may not have a lot of practical knowledge, his super-intelligence and devotion to the game should carry him through," said Brown, who played for the New York Yankees and practiced cardiology before being selected to head the league.