On the eve of the 2024 season, Yale’s head baseball coach, Brian Hamm, was given a new title: the Fay Vincent ’31 Head Coach of Baseball. The endowment comes thanks to a donation from Francis T. “Fay” Vincent, Jr. ’63 LLB, in memory of his father, Fay Vincent, Sr. ’31.
“We are honored to pay tribute to the incredible legacy of Fay ’31,” says Victoria M. “Vicky” Chun, the Thomas A. Beckett Director of Athletics. “We are grateful to Fay ’63 for honoring his father with this generous gesture that will support Yale Baseball for years to come.”
A Leader on Two Fields
A native of Connecticut, Vincent, Sr.’s talents shined on the baseball diamond and football field, leading him to captain both teams at Yale. In his senior year of baseball, he led the Bulldogs to a 14–9 record that included a pair of wins against Harvard and Princeton. A first baseman, he holds the Bulldogs’ still-unbroken record for triples in a single season with seven, a testament to his speed, strength, and hitting ability. As a football player, he played in the famous Army-Yale football game at the Yale Bowl in 1929. During his senior year, he led his team to a 5–2–2 mark and was selected to play with other college all-stars in the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Upon graduating and settling in New Haven, Vincent, Sr. continued his baseball career in the City Amateur League where he won the batting title with a .579 average. He eventually became a baseball umpire and football referee, officiating at the high school and college levels and ascending to the National Football League in 1940.
For Love of the Game
Throughout his life, Vincent, Sr. stayed engaged with Yale and was an avid supporter of the Bulldogs. He shared his passion for baseball, football, and Yale with his son, Vincent, Jr., who would eventually earn a degree from Yale Law School. In 1989, Vincent, Jr. succeeded his friend and former Yale President A. Bartlett “Bart” Giamatti ’60, ’64 PhD as the eighth commissioner of Major League Baseball, a position he held until 1992.
The gift from Vincent, Jr. to endow the coaching position honors his father’s love for baseball, pride in Yale athletics, and appreciation of the mentorship that a coach provides student-athletes. “My father, whose name I share, taught me to love baseball and to appreciate the joys of playing it as well as the challenges and subtleties of our great game,” says Vincent, Jr. “Like Bart Giamatti, he was proud of his Yale ties and believed in doing all things both well and properly. He would be honored to be identified with his alma mater and with the noble tradition of Yale baseball.”
A Storied History Continues
As the inaugural Fay Vincent ’31 Head Coach, Hamm, who will soon kick off his third season at Yale, leads a program that has won eight Ivy League Championships and produced forty-one MLB draftees. He notes that in addition to providing vital support to the team, Fay, Jr.’s gift places the Vincent legacy at the roots of Yale Baseball for future generations of players.
“Fay Vincent ’31 lived a life dedicated to service, leadership, character, work ethic and curiosity; traits that are at the heart of how Yale educates athletes,” says Hamm. “It is fitting that the Vincent name be associated with the head baseball coach position as an inspirational model for coaches and athletes. His legacy reminds us that our first responsibility is to the greater good. Thank you to Fay Vincent, Jr., for his generous investment in Yale athletics.”