State Assembly Appeals to Dodgers, Ueberroth
Assembly, responding to televised comments by former Dodger Vice President Al Campanis on blacks in baseball, overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday urging the Dodgers “to provide increased opportunities for black persons to advance into management positions” within the organization.
Campanis was fired Wednesday after having said Monday night on ABC-TV’s “Nightline” program that blacks “may not have some of the necessities to be a field manager or a general manager” in big league baseball.
The Assembly also urged Commissioner Peter Ueberroth “to take appropriate steps to ensure that qualified blacks will advance into the ranks of management throughout professional baseball.”
A 56-1 bipartisan vote sent the resolution, by Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), to the Senate. The lone no vote was cast by Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill).
Roos used the terms incredible and tragic in describing Campanis’ remarks.
The resolution also noted that this season, 40 years after Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball with the Dodgers, there are no black owners, general managers or field managers among the 26 clubs.
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