Minority Hiring Practices Questioned

While Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie Robinson, and National League President Leonard Coleman acknowledged Friday that baseball has made strides on the field, they said baseball’s minority hiring practices in front-office and field positions remain woefully lacking.

There is only black general manager in baseball--Bob Watson of the New York Yankees. There are only three black managers--Don Baylor of the Colorado Rockies, Dusty Baker of the San Francisco Giants and Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos. And there are just two black third base coaches--Jerry Manuel of the Expos and Willie Randolph of the Yankees.

Even the Dodgers, who integrated baseball with Robinson, have never had a black manager, general manager, farm director or scouting director.

“Baseball has opened up on the field the last 50 years,” Coleman said, “but we still have barriers in front offices. Diligent progress has been made, but not nearly enough.”

Coleman and Robinson were in Montreal to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier. Robinson played in Montreal, the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate, in 1946 before joining the Dodgers the following season. The Expos retired his minor league uniform number, 20, by painting it on the field in front of the Expos’ on-deck circle.

“I hope in celebrating the anniversary,” Rachel Robinson said, “we will not only celebrate his past, but re-evaluate the present and look into the future. We have to ask ourselves what do we still need to do.”

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Rachel Robinson said that her greatest thrill during her husband’s career was their year in Montreal, which openly embraced them.

“I always feel excited about that time,” she said. “We came here almost bruised and battered from spring training in the southern part of the United States [Daytona Beach, Fla.], and kind of surfaced here in an atmosphere of warmth and respect.”

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Mike Busch was about to pack his suitcase to join triple-A Albuquerque in Calgary on Thursday when Billy DeLury, the Dodgers’ traveling secretary, called to tell him he had an 11 a.m. flight to catch to Montreal. He was staying in the majors.

Busch’s wife, Lyvier, already departed for Albuquerque when Busch got the news. He left a hurried message on the phone that said, “I’m still going to Canada. But I’m not going to Calgary. I’m going to Montreal.”

Said Busch: “I barely had time to make the plane. I showered just long enough to put a comb through my hair, packed, dropped my rent-a-car off in downtown L.A., and then caught a cab to the airport. Thank God there was no traffic.”

Busch, then reflecting back to last year’s turbulent times when he was called up as a replacement player, laughed, and said: “It’s been like a soap opera, hasn’t it?”