On Baseball, Managers, Racism, and politics

Lot's of subjects to tackle here!!

I've long since been one of those "hire the best person for the job" folks, and yet baseball continues to under-impress on it's social responsibilities in the areas of hiring diversity for these management type roles. If this was the NFL, we'd be hearing about minority candidates that are being shortlisted for interviews for these openings, and yet with all of these openings in baseball we hear few (relatively) potential minorities for potential hiring to these positions. Why is that?

Okay, do you believe in hiring the "best man" or some sort of social responsibility to hire racially diverse staffs? Baseball team owners pay several hundred million dollars for their teams. They charge high prices for tickets and concessions. Fot these reason, they are beholden to hire the "best man" for the job, not a racially diverse staff.

Many people speak of racism and don't understand that when they come to the defense of minorities, often times their well intentioned words are more racists thatn the charges they are making. I recently pointed out that in Jimmy Carter's zeal to lash out at Georgia's newly elected Republican state senate, he critized a new law requiring proper ID to vote. In his attempt to defend blacks, he actual showed his low opinion of them. He actually said that the law is racist because black people for some reason can't get an ID (state issued ID, driver's license or passport). Now what the hell is President Carter saying about black people? What malfunction do they have that prevents them from acquiring an ID? If I were a black man, I would frankly be offended at his coming to my defense.

Which goes back to your statements, do you really think a black man wants a job because he is the right color or because he is the best man? Do you think a black man would look at the mirror with pride knowing that he was hired because of someone's compulsion to do the socially correct thing and get the token dark face in the league? I think not.

I am sick and tired of people that demand coaches and managers should have the same demographics as their players. Let's look at this; players are paid for their God given ability to throw a 90 mile per hour fast ball. Others are paid for their ability to hit that same ball. Still other are paid for their ability to catch that ball and throw it a great distance with accuracy.

None of the above abilities are required in order to be a baseball manager. Managing is about problem solving, leadership, decision making, play calling, forming strategies, etc. Many baseball players probably do not possess those abilities. In fact, many baseball managers are not former all star players, many had rather lackluster careers as players, but shine as managers. Bobby Cox, manager of the Atlanta Braves played all of two seasons as a major league player after nine years as a minor leaguer. Suffice it to say that his dazzling pro carreer did not earn him his job as a manager.

First and foremost, a club owner is beholden to his fans to offer a good product or they will not go to the games. If there was a plethora of qualified black managers available that could win games, they would be hired. Please quit making it a good ol' boy racist issue. That is frankly a tired ol' argument and without merit.

Eric, I stand by my original words - I think anyone that is hiring another person to do a job for them has every right to hire whomever they want, and I expect that in most cases the job will go to the best person for the job, be it a man or woman. Whomever has the best qualifications, or whomever the person doing the hiring feels will be best to do the job and believes they'll get the best outcome out of.

I don't believe I have a right to tell someone else who they must hire, and for the matter don't really believe I have a right to tell them who they must interview or accept applications from. I don't believe in quotas, and I think discrimination of any kind, be it "reverse discrimination" or ordinary discrimination, is wrong.

If the Detroit Tigers (as an example) believe that an old white guy is the best person for the job, then so be it.

However, I think the owners of the teams in Major League Baseball are continuing to do a disservice to themselves in not expanding their pool of candidates beyond the same old retreads that they keep cycling through. What makes an owner of (again, for example) say the Detroit Tigers believe that Jim Leyland is the best person for the job without ever interviewing say Eddie Murray or someone else of color?

I dislike the mockery that the NFL has made of minority interviewing rules. They slapped around the Detroit Lions when they went after Steve Mariucci (when he was clearly the best person for the job) because they didn't interview minority candidates, and yet the minority candidates that were available refused to be "used" in the process when they know who was going to get the job and why.

There are problems on either side. Management hasn't done much more than provide lip service as to any desire to offer opportunities to minority candidates, and many minority candidates seem to not be as agressive as perhaps they should about seeking interviews and showing desire to get jobs in management.

I do find it hysterically hypocritical though that in the not too distant past Jesse Jackson was decrying that practices of the NFL when it came to minority hiring, and yet again he seems to be giving the MLB a free pass. I guess the black mail checks have continued to roll in for Jesse, or the money was enough to get a longer free pass.

And again, baseball clearly seems to be cycling back through the same old retreads. Much like Corporate America (or should I say Corporate U.S.A.) where we see the same failed CEOs, CFOs and others cycling through jobs, "stolen" from one company where they were failing to go ruin another one where someone is apparently absolutely convinced that the original failure was not that CEOs fault, but instead should be blamed on the minions that were working for whatever company had the misfortune of that persons leadership previously.

I guess what I am saying is that baseball is a microcosm of a bigger problem. Too many times the good old boy network is used to do hiring and not enough times is a real exhaustive search performed to find the right person to do a job. Again, color of the individual be damned. Find the right person and give them the job. It matters not if the person is male or female, black, white or hispanic or any combination. Give the job to the person that can do it best, and the rest will take care of itself.

What I continue to see, in baseball and the world in general, is anything but that happening though. The jobs are going instead to friends and buddies, and the failed track records along the way are far too often ignored. (Though I would not say Leyland is a failure, he did take his team to a world championship when he had enough talent there to get through).

just another example of racisim rearing its ugly head terp.
I too agree the best man for the job should be the only criteria for anything, and that includes doing away with giving some races preferences to get a job or scolorship because they happen to be a minority.

I too agree the best man for the job should be the only criteria for anything, and that includes doing away with giving some races preferences to get a job or scolorship because they happen to be a minority.

I'm right there with you on that front (the scholarship issue).

The funny thing is that I've seen scholarships that would normally go to giving a minority student a boost at a major college be used for just the opposite effect at a college/university where the student population is predominantly made up of minorities. Some HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) used to give away "minority race grants" or scholarships to whites because they had to try to boost their population at that school and because in that particular school, whites were minorities. It seemed pretty silly really that money that should perhaps have gone towards giving a minority a chance at a bigger school was spent on such purposes, but that is what happens when quota programs are used.

On the other hand there are still too many times that minorities are passed over completely. Perhaps it's racism, or perhaps it is just a failure of some individuals to expand their pools of friends, acquaintances, potential job applicants, etc. I can't and won't fault anyone for hiring a white male or white female when no qualified minorities ever applied for the job. I will however take to task anyone that passes over qualified minorities because they wanted to hire someone that looks like them, or that they wouldn't feel bad about taking out to the golf couse or country club with them.

That's part of my point about the baseball ownership. With the exception of Marge Schott, they've been a collection of good old boys. Heck, even Marge Schott could have been called something similar (racist bigot that she was). They aren't interested in expanding their membership at all, or at least haven't made major efforts to help expand their membership with people from other races, cultures and backgrounds. I'm not sure I would have an easy time identifying good candidates for whom they should consider as potential owners, and for that matter it's been said before that the easiest way to become a millionaire in sports is to start out as a billionaire. Perhaps some of those few minorities with money may have decided that owning a sports team is not the best investment of their money, perhaps not. But I think the opportunity should be there, as I think the opportunity should exist for positions in on the field leadership and front office leadership.

Link

Story about the new owner of the Angels. It seems money talks after all.

they've been a collection of good old boys.

I'm sure Mr. Moreno will testify to the fact that major league baseball really only cares if you have the capital to run a team effectively.

What I hate about your comments is that they are merely provocative as nothing can be proven. Can we say that no one besides Mr. Moreno has been interested in purchasing a sports franchise? I don't know. I know this, I'm sure that the media would salivate at the chance to report about your supposed good ol' boys turning down a minority with money to spend simply because of race.

Another point about the ratio of minority players to managers. A great player does not necessarily make a great coach. Just ask Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Cy Young and a host of other Hall of Fame players that were passed over for managerial positions. Cy Young even acted as manager while playing for the 1907 Red Sox, but that combined with the fact that he won two games to help the Red Sox win the first modern era World Series could not get him a job managing in this so called world of good ol' boys.

great players make sucky coaches, because of there own NATURAL skills they cannot begin to understand why others cannot duplicate their way of playing.

I'm sure Mr. Moreno will testify to the fact that major league baseball really only cares if you have the capital to run a team effectively.

And yet I can ask why is Mr. Moreno the exception, rather than the rule?

Honestly, Mr. Moreno is a fine example of someone that had the money and where-with-all to become an owner. As I noted earlier, perhaps others haven't had the desire or money or some combination there of, but for the most part my point stands. Baseball's ownership is a bunch of good old boys that do what they want, with who they want, and don't really care about any potential backlash because there has been precious little, and what little they got before was bought off by writing checks to Jesse Jackson and friends.

but for the most part my point stands. Baseball's ownership is a bunch of good old boys that do what they want, with who they want, and don't really care about any potential backlash because there has been precious little

That's really a very offensive and provacative statement with no basis in fact. You have basically put white America on the defensive while making nothing more than a so-called point that can be neither proven nor refuted.

That's really a very offensive and provacative statement with no basis in fact. You have basically put white America on the defensive while making nothing more than a so-called point that can be neither proven nor refuted.

How nice of you to repeat your charges which also cannot be proven...

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great players make sucky coaches, because of there own NATURAL skills they cannot begin to understand why others cannot duplicate their way of playing.

There's a lot of truth to that statement. For someone that finds the game relatively easy, it could be quite frustrating trying to teach someone else how to achieve at the levels you would need to maintain your own goals to be a successful coach/manager.

But in virtually all of the major sports there have been several recent rounds of complaints about racism and discrimination in hiring processes.

As mentioned earlier, the NFL has had to institute it's own policies requiring ownership to consider qualified minority candidates for any open positions, and they have not just threatened to penalize teams, they have penalized them. The Detroit Lions, and Matt Millen (their GM) were fined because they didn't interview minority candidates when they hired Mariucci. Honestly, I don't believe they were at fault. They saw what seemed to be the best qualified candidate floating in the wind because the 49ers had cut Mariucci loose and they went after him with a vengance.

On the other hand the Detroit Tigers, a team that has been in perpetual rebuilding mode for the last several seasons saw Jimmy Leyland in the market and jumped after him immediately without making a peep about possibly interviewing anyone else.

Again, what I am pointing out and asking about is why MLB in general is getting a pass now, when just a few years ago Jesse Jackson was protesting long and loudly about minority hiring? Has the check still not entirely cleared? Is he still drawing money from the owners and because of that keeping his yap shut and not complaining?