Big-league ball misses point in J. Robinson remembrance
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 7, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 4/8/97
Big-league ball misses point
in J. Robinson remembrance
Despite anniversary celebration, race issue left unresolved
It has been 50 years since Jackie Robinson broke down the color
barrier in major league baseball, and in this season of celebration
and commemoration, professional baseball has missed the point
completely.
The lessons that baseball should have learned through Robinson’s
actions are being obscured by the celebration. In this day of labor
disputes, disgruntled fans and greedy owners, MLB needs a way to
get back into America’s good graces, and Jackie Robinson is being
used for just that.
And it is working as ballparks sell out, memorabilia flies off
the shelves, and the media jumps all over the hype.
Amid all of the speeches, displays and commemorative balls, the
leadership in our national pastime has taken nary a moment for an
in-house look at progress in its hiring practices of
minorities.
Therein lies the shame, because instead of trying to benefit
from Robinson’s accomplishment, the hierarchy of our national
pastime should not only be ashamed that it took so long for the
barriers to be broken, but should also look deep within to see if
the model of 50 years ago has been improved upon.
If they did, they might not be pleased with the results, for the
record shows that while the 1997 floor model looks much better, the
builders and foremen still look the same.
By the 1970s, baseball was, for the most part, fully integrated
on the field. But baseball didn’t allow the old boys’ network of
managers, general managers and executives to be permeated until 28
years after Robinson.
In 1975, it was another Robinson that broke through into
once-forbidden territory. Frank Robinson was hired as manager of
the Cleveland Indians, but this next step took nearly three
decades!
Now, has baseball finally begun to make a move to the fore of
equal employment? Nope.
On opening day, there were exactly three black managers and one
black general manager in baseball’s ranks. That’s not much in the
way of progress. And any arguments that the jobs simply go to the
most qualified people are garbage.
There is no way that Terry Collins was so overqualified for the
Anaheim Angels job that Rod Carew didn’t even deserve a look.
One of the premier batting coaches in baseball, a man who
collected over 3,000 hits in his career, gets passed over for a
one-time manager with few distinguishing achievements.
In Houston, the Astros hired Larry Dierker as their new manager
for this season. Certainly the man was a strong pitcher in the
’70s, but they hired this guy out of a broadcast booth, not a
dugout. By that rationale, Hall of Famer and broadcaster Joe Morgan
should be drowning in job offers.
This is not progress; this is a passing over. Baseball is
pulling its weight in the equal treatment of minorities, you say? I
say they have barely hitched up the cart.
Now, on this golden anniversary, a golden opportunity is being
neatly bypassed.
Of course Robinson and his accomplishments deserve accolades by
the truckload and stadiums rightfully should be filled when he is
being remembered. But at the same time, major league baseball has
an obligation to use this occasion as a litmus test to see how far
they have come. But that is not what is happening.
Yes, professional baseball has a serious public-relations
problem and is losing an entire generation of fans through the
monetary skulduggery of the 1990s. To right the ship, the owners
and the commissioner certainly should make every effort to reel in
the sellout crowds and the entertainment dollar.
But a superficial celebration this year is not the ticket
because next season, the Jackie Robinson drawing card will be
moot.
Baseball would be better off attempting to serve as a flagship
of equal opportunity in the keynote jobs in the dugout and in the
skyboxes.
Because while Jackie Robinson helped level the playing field 50
years ago, the dugout and front office are still tilting badly.
Mark Shapiro is a Daily Bruin columnist and men’s tennis writer.
E-mail responses to [email protected].
