NAACP Threatens Boycott If Mariners Hire Campanis

The Seattle chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People threatened Friday to picket or boycott Seattle Mariners games if the team hires Al Campanis.

Campanis, 71, was fired by the Dodgers last season after remarks on ABC-TV’s “Nightline” that suggested blacks lack certain “necessities” needed to hold managerial and front-office jobs in baseball.

Mariner owner George Argyros acknowledged Thursday that he has considered hiring Campanis as a consultant.

“Al and I have talked,” Argyros said. “He is a friend, and I respect him a lot as a baseball man with a lot to offer, but we are only considering a possibility of utilizing him in a consulting capacity.”

Oscar Eason Jr. of the Seattle branch of the NAACP said the organization does not want Campanis taking any job with the Mariners, and he indicated that NAACP members might organize a boycott of Mariners’ games or set up informational pickets outside the Kingdome if Campanis is hired.

“We’re opposed to him coming to Seattle in any kind of capacity,” Eason said. “For George Argyros to say he’s being considered for any position at all is totally unacceptable.

“We’re going to make sure he’s unwelcome. This is something we certainly do not want to see. If he does (anything for the Mariners) it’s going to create some problems between the black community and the Seattle Mariners.”

The Mariners recently hired Ethan Kelly, who is black, as the team’s public relations director.

“I thought we had a pretty good relationship with them until this thing with Al Campanis came up,” Eason said.

Argyros said any work Campanis might do for the team wouldn’t begin until Woody Woodward, a former Philadelphia Phillies executive who replaced Dick Balderson as general manager Wednesday, is settled into his job.

“When Mr. Woodward comes aboard, I am sure he and Al will have some discussions,” Argyros said.

If that happens, Eason said he wants a public discussion with Campanis about whether he has renounced his comments that blacks might not be qualified to be field managers or general managers in baseball.

“I haven’t heard anything to indicate he’s had a revelation that blacks are in fact capable of holding down administrative spots,” Eason said.

Wednesday, Campanis said he expected to join the Mariners in a “responsible position.”