She’s Back : A Weeping Marge Schott Is Given Warm Welcome by Most Employees

Marge Schott, the Cincinnati Reds’ owner who had been suspended by major league baseball, showed her employees another side Monday on her first day back on the job. She cried.

Schott was treated like a returning hero, not a chastised owner, when she drove up to her office at Riverfront Stadium for the first time in eight months. She hadn’t been allowed inside during her suspension for using racial and ethnic slurs.

Employees hung banners and balloons in the hallways, played “Hail to the Chief” when Schott’s car pulled up, and cheered as she walked her St. Bernard, Schottzie 02, into the team offices.

Schott wiped away tears during a singing telegram bought by the staff, and she compared the reception to a World Series celebration.

“I don’t know how they did all this,” she said. “This was certainly something special.”

Schott was allowed to be consulted on major financial matters during the suspension, but she couldn’t make day-to-day decisions. She said that was the hardest part of the suspension.

“I’m a hands-on owner,” she said. “To be suddenly removed from it, it’s very difficult.”

Although employees treated it like a holiday, Schott was low-key. Asked whether she was bitter about the banishment, she said: “No, no. It’s just something that’s over and done, and get back to reality.”

Some employees weren’t thrilled. One rolled his eyes at the treatment she got when she stepped out of her car, and another made a gesture of contempt upon seeing welcome-back banners hung outside.