Diversity lacking in MLB dugouts
Commissioner denies there is an ‘old-boy network’ in place when it comes to managers
KANSAS CITY, MO.— Minority managers have all but disappeared from Major League Baseball’s dugouts, which next year could have no black skippers for the first time in nearly three decades.
“We have had a year where our numbers are down in terms of the diversity that we have in some of our key positions,” Rob Manfred said Monday, a day ahead of the start of the first World Series since he became baseball commissioner.
“I think it’s incumbent upon us to come up with additional programs and ways to make sure that our numbers look better over the long haul.”
Atlanta’s Fredi Gonzalez, who was born in Cuba, is the only current minority manager; the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami, San Diego and Washington have openings to fill.
“There is a certain cyclical nature to this,” Manfred said. “Obviously, field managers are high turnover jobs. And you’re going to have peaks and valleys in terms of representation within what’s a very small sample; there’s only 30 of them out there.
“Having said that, we are focused on the need to promote diversity, not just African-American, but Latino, as well, in the managerial ranks.”
Cincinnati fired Dusty Baker after the 2013 season. Last year, Houston’s Bo Porter was let go and Texas’s Ron Washington quit. Seattle fired Lloyd McClendon, the only remaining African-American manager, five days after this season ended.
Next year could be the first season with no black managers in the major leagues since 1984-87, according to Richard Lapchick of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida.
Then-commissioner Bud Selig told teams in April 1999 they had to consider minorities when hiring a man- ager, general manager, assistant GM, director of player development or director of scouting. Manfred plans to discuss the topic with owners next month.
“There’s been so much change in the general manager rank,” Manfred said. “It’s hard to look at our group of general managers and talk about it as an old-boy network, because they ain’t very old.” On other topics: Payrolls Manfred was pleased teams outside the top spenders advanced deep into the post-season.
The four teams in the League Championship Series ranked 10th (Toronto at $135.5 million), 11th (Chicago Cubs at $132.5 million), 13th (Kansas City at $128.1 million) and 19th (New York Mets at $109.6 million) in payroll at the end of the regular season, according to MLB’s calculations.
“It shows that teams from all sorts of markets, if they have a strategy and stick to it, can win,” he said. “And I think that’s really, really important
for the sport.” Takeout slides at second base “This conversation about player safety at second base began in our office months before that particular play,” Manfred said of the play where the Dodgers’ Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada of the Mets’ leg. “It progressed to the point that we had some preliminary conversations with the MLBPA about it. And I fully expect that we will continue those conversations with the MLBPA in the offseason.”