Former NL President Feeney Dies : Baseball: At 72, he has a heart attack. League officials call his death ‘a great loss’ to the sport.

Chub Feeney, a former National League president and general manager of the New York and San Francisco Giants, died from a heart attack Monday at California Pacific Hospital in San Francisco. He was 72.

Feeney had suffered a mild stroke at a game at Candlestick Park on July 27 and was hospitalized last Tuesday after a heart attack. He suffered another on Monday, a hospital spokesperson said.

“He was a close and dear friend who loved the game and was always full of life,” former Dodger general manager Buzzie Bavasi said. “I’ll miss him.”

A nephew of the late Giant owner Horace Stoneham, Charles Stoneham Feeney attended Dartmouth College and Fordham law school and was general manager of the Giants for 20 years starting in 1950.

The club won National League pennants in 1951, ’54 and ’62 after joining the Dodgers in the 1958 move to California. Feeney succeeded Warren Giles as the league president in 1970 and retired when the late Bart Giammati became commissioner on Dec. 31, 1986.

A traditionalist who believed negotiations were best conducted over drinks and dinner, Feeney led the NL’s 1973 opposition to the designated hitter rule adopted by the American League, and was influential in the 1969 decision to split each league into two divisions.

Feeney went on to serve briefly as president of the San Diego Padres, resigning shortly after making an obscene gesture at two fans parading around San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium with a sign reading “Scrub Chub,” but he was regarded as the NL president emeritus and “of immeasurable help” to current president Bill White.

“Chub’s passing is a great loss to baseball,” White said. “He signed me to my first professional contract.”

A director of the Hall of Fame, Feeney also was involved in the early development of the Angels while still general manager of the Giants. He provided close friend Bill Rigney, the Angels’ first manager and a former Giant manager, with access to the Giants’ scouting files, enabling the Angels to select Jim Fregosi, Buck Rodgers, Dean Chance and several other young prospects in the 1961 expansion draft.

“The passing of Chub Feeney is a great blow to the entire baseball community,” interim Commissioner Bud Selig said. “I’ll personally miss his expertise, his humor and above all, his friendship.”

Feeney is survived by his wife, Margaret Ann, and their five children, one of whom, Katy, is the NL’s vice president of media and public affairs.

Funeral plans are pending.