Testimony in Schott Case Put Off

A former Oakland Athletics’ executive assistant says she will not be allowed to tell club owners that she overheard Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott use racial slurs in time for the testimony to be relevant.

Sharon Jones, who said she overheard Schott use the slur to describe black employees, said National League President Bill White phoned her to say she would not be included at Tuesday’s owners’ meeting in Grapevine, Tex.

At that session, the Rev. Jesse Jackson will tell owners of his views on baseball’s racial situation.

The reason for Jones’ exclusion remained unclear.

“He (White) said they’d have room for me to address them on Feb. 3, that I’d certainly be invited to that (meeting),” Jones said.

But Schott and her attorney, Robert Bennett, are scheduled to answer the charges on Jan. 22 at a meeting with baseball’s ruling executive council. Bennett had requested that Jones’ testimony not be heard Tuesday, and White acceded to that request.

Jones said she once overheard Schott use the slur during a 1987 conference call and that Schott said she would rather have a “trained monkey” as an employee.

There won’t be any decisions about Schott at the Tuesday meeting.

In other matters, officials said that the restructuring committee still hadn’t made its recommendations concerning the commissioner’s office, although it was told to issue its report by Nov. 1, 1992. And a search committee for a new commissioner will not be chosen, although executive council chairman Bud Selig said on Dec. 9 that it would be appointed within a week.