Frank Robinson Might Be a Perfect Fit for Cincinnati

Why not Frank Robinson as the new chief executive of the Cincinnati Reds?

Robinson, after all, began his brilliant career in Cincinnati.

He acquired managerial experience both on the field and in the front office.

He has Hall of Fame stature.

And he would help reestablish damaged links to the community, providing minority leadership to an organization whose bigoted owner has made a practice of putting down minorities.

“I haven’t thought about it and haven’t been contacted, but I could see myself taking it if asked,” Robinson said from his Bel Air home.

“The organization hasn’t been the problem, the person running it has been. As far as I know, [Marge Schott’s] only involvement will be to OK the budget, but I would want to be sure I’d be making the decisions.”

Robinson said Schott’s forced exile through 1998 for another series of inappropriate statements “is something that had to be done.”

He said the initial thrust of Cincinnati’s new leadership should be to get the team’s focus back on winning, eliminate the distractions and provide a positive environment for the fans.

“It’s been a great organization and baseball city over the years, and the fans deserve positive leadership,” he said.

Robinson was 21 when he began his major league career in Cincinnati in 1956.

“I really needed support as a young player and the fans were great to me,” he said. “I spent 10 years there and felt I grew up as a person and player. I was shocked and disappointed when the Reds traded me [to the Baltimore Orioles in 1965 for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson], but it turned out to be one of the best moves for my career [because of the caliber of the team he was joining].”

Robinson became the only player to win most-valuable-player awards in both the American and National leagues.

He became baseball’s first black manager, with the Cleveland Indians in 1975, later managing the San Francisco Giants and Orioles.

He moved to the Baltimore front office as assistant general manager in 1991, but was relieved of that position when Pat Gillick brought in a new administration last winter. Discussions with the San Diego Padres, who are now administered by former Oriole President Larry Lucchino, failed to produce a job for Robinson, who has since been doing some TV work--and lots of house repairs.

“I’m surprised it was still standing, there was so much to do,” he said of the house.

Is he disappointed not to be working in baseball’s house?

“Yes, but I’m not bitter, not mad, not sitting here brooding about it,” he said. “I’d certainly like to get back. It’s been my life. I still love the game and am still enthusiastic.”

A recent internal study showed that the pace of minority hiring in baseball has decelerated.

There are four minority managers--Felipe Alou, Cito Gaston, Don Baylor and Dusty Baker--but Bob Watson of the New York Yankees is the only minority general manager.

“It’s the same old story,” Robinson said. “You can do anything you want with the numbers, but there’s been no significant movement in the decision-making positions. For every step forward there’s a couple steps back. I mean, there’s minority hiring for lesser positions, and I’m not knocking those positions, but those people are not promoted as they gain experience and seniority.

“If there’s a higher position to fill, the organization will generally go outside to hire someone. It’s not the minority person who moves up. I don’t think baseball has any reason to be patting itself on the back.”

Team controller John Allen will serve as the Reds’ chief executive for up to 60 days.

Former Angel president Richard Brown, interested providing he has decision-making authority, and Pittsburgh Pirate executive Mark Sauer are considered the early front-runners to replace Allen.

National League President Leonard Coleman, who will conduct the search, was asked if the Cincinnati opening, particularly considering Schott’s series of ethnic, racial and gender slurs, didn’t represent a significant opportunity to hire a minority--Robinson, perhaps Joe Morgan, another former Red.

“I would relish the opportunity to hire a qualified minority, but in no way will we be exclusive in the range of people under consideration,” he said. “It’s wide open.

“We have not zeroed in on anyone, but certainly equal-opportunity hiring is the desired end for baseball as a whole, not just the Reds.

“We’re coming up to the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the barrier, and while those barriers have been broken completely on the field, we still have any number of hurdles in the front offices, and we have to be dedicated to the Robinson legacy, to knocking down those hurdles.”

For Frank Robinson, a return to Cincinnati would complete the circle. The fans, as he noted, have been great to him there, but the organization has not always recognized his contribution.

The numbers of Fred Hutchinson and Johnny Bench have been retired, and those of Pete Rose and Tony Perez have not been given any other players, but journeyman infielder Jeff Branson is the latest to wear Robinson’s No. 20.

If reestablishing a tattered organization on and off the field is the goal, Branson can have the number. Robinson has the credentials.

THE PHONE CALL

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig won’t talk about it, but other baseball officials say a recent phone conversation between Selig and Schott illustrates her insensitivity and lack of understanding.

Schott, according to the officials, was complimenting Selig on his integrity and fairness in her and other situations, praising his conciliatory approach to baseball’s series of tough challenges.

Then, as if incredulous to find those traits in someone of Selig’s ethnic and religious persuasion, she added:

“I just never thought you were Jewish.”

Selig, according to the officials, was so stunned he couldn’t respond, but is it any wonder the executive council didn’t bother making sensitivity counseling a requirement of this newest discipline?

It was obviously a wasted effort during her first suspension.

PADRES FADE

The losses hurt, but it’s the approach that disturbs Tony Gwynn.

“Not hitting, not catching, not throwing, not playing defense,” Gwynn said, summing up an eight-game San Diego losing streak that ended Saturday.

“Every team goes through a rut, but the way we’ve handled it has been terrible. We’re almost playing like a last-place team instead of a first-place team.”

The Padres don’t figure to remain first for long. They had lost 11 of 12 until Saturday, a span that started when first baseman Wally Joyner broke his left thumb on June 2.

A team that is last in the league in home runs relies on the delicate balance of a contact lineup. The loss of Joyner, batting .321 with 33 runs batted in, was big, depriving the Padres of their most consistent run producer and affecting the pitches that Ken Caminiti, who hits ahead of Joyner, sees.

Joyner is also a vacuum cleaner at first base, and the Padres’ defense has collapsed since he went out.

In the 56 games before June 2, the Padres made 34 errors, contributing to only 17 unearned runs. In the first 10 games Joyner missed, the Padres made 16 errors contributing to 12 unearned runs--four of the errors by shortstop Andujar Cedeno, whose latest siege of inconsistency might have the Padres giving serious thought to Ozzie Smith.

San Diego’s problems, however, are more complex than Joyner’s injury.

Pitcher Andy Ashby (7-2) is also on the disabled list, because of a shoulder problem, and two valuable role players, Scott Livingstone and Craig Shipley, are keeping him company there.

Leadoff batter Rickey Henderson has kept his on-base percentage over .400, but his batting average is only .223. Gwynn is batting .326, and his sore right heel may be costing him 30 or more points.

The way the Padres are going, it was not surprising that their post-midnight departure from San Diego on Wednesday night was delayed four hours by a malfunctioning escape chute on their plane. They sent out for pizza, eating it on the tarmac. It’s their play that Gwynn and others find hard to swallow.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

--Third baseman Tim Naehring is the latest Boston Red Sox player to snap over the team’s desultory season.

“There’s a real attitude problem,” Naehring said. “Not enough people care about their performances. . . . It’s hard to face 3 1/2 more months of this. We’ve got to care enough to play like professionals or they need to make some changes around here.”

--Center fielder Larry Walker could be out for 10 weeks because of the broken collarbone he suffered last Sunday, but Dante Bichette thinks the Colorado Rockies can avoid the collapses that accompanied the loss of Andres Galarraga in 1993 and ’94.

“We’re a better team now,” Bichette said. “Taking Larry out of our lineup is going to have a big impact, but we have better players than we had before, and we know ourselves better.

“When Cat [Galarraga] got hurt we were still trying to figure out how far we could push it, but we’ve been through it. You’d like to think you can draw from the past.”

--Bonuses continue to climb for players selected in the first round of last week’s draft. The No. 8 selection, Kentucky outfielder Chad Green, a candidate for the Olympic team who cannot receive his money until the Olympics are over, agreed to $1.06 million with the Milwaukee Brewers, a 15% increase over what the Brewers gave USC’s Geoff Jenkins, their No. 1 pick last year.

Pitcher Nick Bierbrodt of Long Beach Millikan, the first player drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and the 30th overall, signed for $525,000, with a unique stipulation that will bring him more, according to his advisor, Alan Meersand. Before the end of the ’96 season, Bierbrodt will get a bonus based on his $525,000 signing and the percentage increase between 1995 and 1996 first-round signings.

“It’s compensation for signing early and possibly leaving money on the table,” Meersand said.