Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
REDS OWNER SUSPENDED, FINED
Marge Schott on Wednesday was suspended as Cincinnati Reds owner for one year and fined $25,000 for "using language that is racially and ethnically offensive."After an investigation that began Dec. 1, baseball's ruling executive council found that statements attributed to the 64-year-old owner were not "in the best interests of baseball." The suspension will begin on March 1, but Schott can apply for reinstatement on Nov. 1 if she attends and completes multicultural training programs.
"Mrs. Schott's remarks reflect the most base and demeaning type of racial and ethnic stereotyping . . . indicating an insensitivity that cannot be accepted or tolerated by anyone in baseball," executive council Chairman Bud Selig said after 8 1/2 hours of meetings. "There should be no question that the type of language commonly used by Mrs. Schott is offensive and unacceptable. There is simply no place for this in major-league baseball."
Schott agreed to accept the penalty, said her lawyer, Robert Bennett. Bennett negotiated with baseball's lawyers throughout the day to make changes in the decision.
Bennett said Cincinnati general manager Jim Bowden would be proposed to run the Reds in her absence. Bennett said Schott would be allowed to attend games and sit in the executive suite, but not in the owner's field box.
"We do not think she deserves to be suspended," Bennett said after following Selig to the podium, "but it was important that ownership interest and control of the club be maintained."
Bennett said Schott was "very upset and very depressed - I don't mean in a clinically sort of way - that she has been singled out."
Schott's problems began last autumn when former Reds controller Tim Sabo sued Schott over his firing, and she countersued and took the case to court.
Once it went to trial, the depositions of former employees were made public. Their sworn statements accused her of referring to her black players with racial slurs - such as calling Dave Parker and Eric Davis "my million-dollar niggers" - and discriminating against minorities in hiring. In her own deposition, Schott admitted she occasionally used the slurs and wondered why a Jewish employee was offended by a Nazi armband she had in her house.
Once her remarks became a national issue, Schott stubbornly resisted calls for an apology. She waited a week before saying she was sorry if she offended anyone. The statement contained no admission of wrongdoing.
The last baseball owner suspended was George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, who on July 31, 1990, agreed to accept an indefinite ban for his $40,000 payment to gambler Howard Spira. Steinbrenner will be reinstated on March 1.