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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Murray Chass: A GOOD POLICY IN NEED OF REVISION

Selig gets and takes credit for the [minority interviewing and hiring] program, and I suppose he deserves it because he was the commissioner who implemented it, and he did it before the National Football League instituted a similar program, the Rooney Rule. ...


This off-season clubs created openings for six general managers and five managers. A total of seven members of minorities were interviewed. White male interviewees numbered at least three times that number.


Clubs don’t always include minorities in their interviews, and the commissioner often shrugs it off, offering some lame excuse for the team. ...

But when Selig exempts teams, he misses the point of his own policy. The idea is to allow minorities to be exposed to the interviewing process and to enable themselves to be exposed to other teams for possible future consideration. No interview, no exposure. ...

Since the end of the 2009 season baseball has had nine subtractions and only three additions among minority general managers and managers. But two of the additions, Guillen and Fredi Gonzalez, also count among the subtractions, and the third addition, Edwin Rodriguez, became a subtraction when he resigned last season from his managing job with the Marlins.

In other words, no new minority appears on baseball’s landscape. ...

From what I have been able to piece together – Major League Baseball will not disclose lists of candidates for each team – three members of minorities (one each Hispanic, black and female) were interviewed for six general manager openings, two for the same opening, and four (three Hispanic, one black) were interviewed for five managerial vacancies, one candidate by two teams.

That’s not exactly a torrent of candidates. If Selig is “quite satisfied that all the clubs have done what they’re supposed to do,” he needs to set a higher standard. How can Selig be satisfied that Major League Baseball has only seven people who are considered worthy of being interviewed for top jobs? He shouldn’t be satisfied; he should be embarrassed.

bobm Posted: November 13, 2011 at 04:34 PM | 8 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: angels, arizona, business, cardinals, cubs, dodgers, indians, mets, miami, nationals, orioles, padres, rays, red sox, tigers, twins, white sox

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   1. villageidiom Posted: November 13, 2011 at 06:04 PM (#3992521)
Quoted without comment:
This off-season Selig reacted angrily when I asked about what I had been told was the absence of minority interviews by the Chicago White Sox in their search for a manager to replace Ozzie Guillen.

”What,” Selig exclaimed, “you think Kenny Williams suddenly became a racist?”
   2. The District Attorney Posted: November 13, 2011 at 06:08 PM (#3992524)
Chass is right that this is a good policy in the abstract, and that it is useless if you don't enforce it.

”What,” Selig exclaimed, “you think Kenny Williams suddenly became a racist?”
This, on the other hand, does not show a nuanced philosophical command of the relevant issues on the part of M. Selig.
   3. McCoy Posted: November 13, 2011 at 06:30 PM (#3992532)
Isn't that what the "general" tag is for?
   4. TVerik Posted: November 13, 2011 at 06:47 PM (#3992541)
The policy, as I understand it, was to get actual minorities actually hired in larger numbers than they were before the policy. To take a less-nefarious look at the root causes, I think it's safe to say that old white guys are more comfortable with other old white guys, many of whom they've known for years and years, when it comes to hiring a new employee. And that has largely worked.

It is NOT to increase token interviews. Which, if you revise the policy towards no exemptions, you will only increase.

The biggest measure of a successful policy in the end, in my opinion, is the recycling of the "retread" candidates. There will always be a market for a big-name high-performing underemployed coach, race aside. But Guillen and Gonzalez and their recent movement point to a successful policy, not an unsuccessful one.
   5. Walt Davis Posted: November 13, 2011 at 08:12 PM (#3992583)
MINORITIES NOT RECEIVING OPPORTUNITIES TO BE LEADERS, MR. PRESIDENT
   6. Bob Evans Posted: November 14, 2011 at 02:00 AM (#3992740)
Oh, Walt, oh, Walt...you are too much.
   7. Pat Rapper's Delight Posted: November 14, 2011 at 02:35 AM (#3992763)
Chass is right that this is a good policy in the abstract, and that it is useless if you don't enforce it.

Used car salesmen just may not have the necessities to be, let's say, commissioner of a major sports league.
   8. Bob Evans Posted: November 14, 2011 at 03:03 AM (#3992779)
This, on the other hand, does not show a nuanced philosophical command of the relevant issues on the part of M. Selig.

It's a pretty good answer to a direct question about the White Sox. If anything, it shows Chass isn't zeroing in on the relevant issues.

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