Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993 TAG: 9301230047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GRAPEVINE, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
SCHOTT BACK ON OFFENSIVE
Marge Schott's lawyer told baseball's executive council Friday that it would be illegal to suspend her for using racial slurs.Robert Bennett also said baseball should make no decision without a formal hearing in which the Cincinnati Reds owner could face her accusers under cross-examination by counsel.
Schott and her lawyer appeared before the council Friday to answer accusations that she made racial and ethnic slurs. A four-person committee submitted the evidence against Schott to her lawyer in late December.
On Friday, Schott avoided reporters.
"This is very difficult for her," Bennett said. "She's a great lady in baseball, and she has been criticized, and people who don't know anything about the evidence have taken positions. This is not an easy thing for her."
Schott has apologized for occasional offensive remarks and has improved the team's minority hiring practices since the controversy began last year, but baseball is under intense pressure to suspend her. Last week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson threatened boycotts of games if she isn't suspended.
Bennett's report said that Schott has acknowledged making insensitive remarks but only in isolated, private conversations and that baseball's report was "filled almost exclusively with the unreliable hearsay statements of witnesses who are biased against Mrs. Schott."
Milwaukee Brewers owner and council chairman Bud Selig said the executive council "has begun the deliberation process and will continue reviewing the material submitted before rendering a final decision." Selig said he had no timetable and would not comment on possible actions.
Bennett's report Friday included his strongest hint to date that Schott might seek legal recourse if baseball decides to punish her.
"Any restriction of Mrs. Schott's management authority or ownership rights, including her right of access to Riverfront Stadium, not only would be misguided and grossly unjust, but also would be illegal and judicially unenforceable," Bennett wrote.
The council, which assumed authority Sept. 7 after the forced resignation of commissioner Fay Vincent, said it has the power to fine Schott up to $250,000 or to suspend her for any length of time in finds to be "in the best interests of baseball."
Never before has Major League Baseball punished anyone for using racially or ethnically insensitive language.
Schott said her purpose in coming before the council was not to make excuses but to "acknowledge my mistakes and to apologize for my insensitivity."
Meanwhile in Cincinnati, black residents who formed a group they call Citizens For Equal Justice For Marge Schott sent a letter of support to baseball owners who will determine what to do about Schott. The Rev. Johnnie Johnson leads the group that says Schott should not be singled out for punishment in what the group described as a widespread pattern of racial discrimination in professional sports.