Editor’s note: Baseball commissioners don’t often form close relationships with players, but Fay Vincent, who was commissioner from September 1989 to September 1992, did just that with Joe DiMaggio. Vincent wrote a version of this column that appeared at FoxNews.com Tuesday.

Joe DiMaggio at 100: Memories of the finest player I ever saw

On the 100th anniversary of Joe DiMaggio’s birth (Nov. 25), it seems appropriate to remember him as I do as the finest baseball player I ever saw play our delicate little game.

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It is a conspiracy theory so intriguing and so bizarre that it’s hard to pass up. It is at least worth reporting. I have tried to contact Jim Crane, the Houston Astros’ owner, to get his response, but he did not respond to telephone calls and e-mail.

Crane came into baseball three years ago with a reputation, deserved or not, for racial remarks he allegedly had made. His critics put him in a class with Donald Sterling, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who was forced to sell his NBA team because of his racial remarks.

Among other questionable comments, the Houston Chronicle quoted Crane as telling executives of one of his other companies not to hire “’blacks because once you hire blacks you can never fire them.’”

On the other hand, Crane, who is known as the best CEO golfer in the country, has played golf with President Obama and Tiger Woods. And he hired Bo Porter to manage the woeful Astros, who had lost more than 100 games in each of the two preceding seasons.

But that act was Part I of the conspiracy theory, its proponents allege. Crane hired Porter, the theory goes, to …

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As I watched the Giancarlo Stanton news conference on television Wednesday, it wasn’t talk of Stanton’s new, historic $325 million contract that stood out for me. It was the appearance of Jeffrey Loria that struck me.

The owner of the Miami Marlins seems to have aged badly since the last time I saw him. It’s not that he looks older than his age – he turned 74 the day after the news conference – but he used to look much younger than his age.

Loria’s appearance reminded me of a 1945 film, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” in which a portrait of Gray changes, becoming more severe, as he becomes a more sinful character.

There might be a few baseball owners today who view Loria as sinful because he has …

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