Darren M. Kilfara is a Crimson staff writer.

Fay Vincent

[Editor's Note: Before his scheduled address on baseball and public policy at the Institute of Politics last night, Vincent shared his memories of World Series past with The Crimson.]

"Well, I was a Yankees fan growing up, so the 1950 World Series was a pretty good one. The Yankees beat the Phillies and in the fourth game, Whitey Ford won his first World Series game. Whitey Ford; he was a rookie that year. I remember that I was a Yankee fan and so it was a great win for the Yankees.

"The Phillies were the "Whiz Kids" then. Granny Hamner--he just died, but he was the shortstop. It was a very good team, but I think if they played 20 World Series the Yankees would have swept them, all 20. There was a very big discrepancy in talent.

"Then I remember Mazerowski's home run in '60, that was a great memory. I was in Pittsburgh, watching the game on television. I remember 1955, when Podres had the great World Series for the Dodgers, which was...spectacular. Spectacular.

"It's interesting; I don't have great memories of the '60s. I think I was working too hard. It happens often with baseball, that the interest ebbs and flows with your own career, and I was a young lawyer and I was just working around the clock. My memories of baseball in the '60s are pretty much a blur. Then, of course, I remember the great World Series in '75, and uh, oh, lots of memories there.

"The one I guess I'll always remember was the first when I was commissioner, in 1989. We had the earthquake, then Oakland played the Giants and Rickey Henderson put on some show. I don't think I've ever seen anybody dominate a World Series the way Rickey did in '89.

"I've been a Giants fan recently and I was one then; I'm a big fan of people like Roger Craig and Will Clark. I mean, Will Clark is remarkable because he plays with great intensity every day. He's a superstar, but he gives you your money's worth on every pitch. And I admire that; he's a real professional. Certainly, and especially since I was involved as commissioner, that '89 one will be real special.

"I've been to only one World Series game as a spectator. Only one. Never as a kid; we lived in New Haven and nobody would have taken me. But I saw the Dodger-Yankee game in 1978, the game when Welch struck out Reggie Jackson in Dodger Stadium. I remember that later in New York, Reggie hit the home runs, but that was a great game because I was sitting behind the Dodger bench, and Welch just blew Reggie away with those fastballs.

"That was just remarkable. Remarkable."

Fay Vincent is the former Commissioner of Major League Baseball.