A. Bartlett Giamatti was an accomplished Renaissance scholar, writer, professor, President of Yale University, Commissioner of the National Baseball League and Commissioner of Baseball. As such, he achieved fame as both an academic and a sports figure.
As a scholar and writer he published:
Master Pieces from the Files of T.G.B. (1964)
The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic (1966)
Play of Double Senses: Spenser's Faerie Queene (1975)
The University and the Public Interest (1981)
Dante in America : the first two centuries (1983)
Exile and Change in Renaissance Literature (1984)
Take Time for Paradise: Americans and their Games (1989)
A Free and Ordered Space: The Real World of the University (1990)
A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti
As the youngest president of Yale University he presided over a controversial strike by clerical and technical employees. His efforts in negotiating and end to this strike led to an appointment as the Commissioner of the National Baseball League and then the Commissioner of Baseball. It was in this capacity that the public became best acquainted with A. Bartlett Giamatti.
Cincinnati Reds superstar ballplayer and manager Pete Rose and a shoo-in to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame was reported to be betting on the outcome of on baseball games, allegations which he denied. When Giamatti was elected Commissioner of Baseball on April 1, 1989 he inherited the problem from the previous commissioner. Giamatti resolved months of controversy by banning Pete Rose from baseball for life. This ban still remains in effect. Eight days later Giamatti died of a heart attack at the age of 51. He was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.