With the firing of Bo Porter by the Houston Astros and the resignation of Ron Washington from the Texas Rangers last week, Lloyd McClendon of the Seattle Mariners is now the lone black manager in the MLB, and commissioner Bud Selig is concerned about it.
Selig spoke to the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday voicing his issues:
“Well, both teams are looking for ‘em,” the commissioner said of the Astros and Rangers in response to a question from the Chronicle. “I’m very concerned about that. I’m very proud of what we’ve done in minority hiring. And I think we’ll have some good news on that front, too, from everything I’m hearing in other areas. I’m sorry to see Ron Washington to go. I didn’t know Bo Porter very well, but I did know Ron well. But we’ll see what the clubs do. I think the clubs have been pretty good. We made progress. Not always as quickly as I’d like, but I’ll repeat it for the 200th time already today, we are a social institution. We need to do as much of that as possible. And should.”
Selig’s concerns are well founded, however I think the problem stems from Major League Baseball being a bit out of touch in the black community in general. More black players having successful careers in the sport will naturally lead to the presence of more managers. One thing is for sure, with the loss of two of the only three black managers the MLB is moving backwards on this front.
[h/t Houston Chronicle]