Campanis Says He Meant Experience When He Spoke of the ‘Necessities’

Al Campanis, in an interview that appeared on Channel 9 Tuesday night, said he regrets that people got the wrong picture of him when he was interviewed by Ted Koppel on ABC’s “Nightline” on April 6.

Campanis, the Dodgers’ vice president in charge of personnel, was fired two days after the Koppel interview for saying, among other things, that blacks lacked the “necessities” to be a field manager or general manager in baseball.

“Those people who have been with me over the many years know that that wasn’t the real Al Campanis that was portrayed in that episode,” Campanis told Channel 9’s Scott St. James.

St. James’ interview was taped Monday night at the Century Plaza Hotel, where Campanis was attending the Cedars-Sinai/Drexel Burnham Lambert Sports Spectacular awards dinner.

Asked what he might say differently if given the opportunity now, Campanis said: “When I said necessities, I meant the necessary experience. . . . For example, I managed four years, three years in the minors, one year in Cuba. I spent 10 years as a scout. I spent 10 years as a scouting director and then 19 years in the position of general management and vice president. So it takes a lot of time. This is the kind of game that you’ve got to have a lot of experience.

“I’ve said that I’ll be glad to donate my services to teach whites and blacks alike, free of charge, how baseball management should be conducted.”

Asked if he thought he had been treated fairly by the media, Campanis said: “I don’t think that I can complain about the media. They’ve always been very good to me in the past and I think this was the kind of story that was embellished, perhaps out of proportion. But overall I guess the media had a job to do and they related what they thought was proper.”