Rob Manfred, commissioner of baseball, before Game 4 of baseball’s American League Championship Series on Oct. 20. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
KANSAS CITY – Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday his league is making efforts to foster diversity among managers and executives even as the hiring processes of the 30 major league clubs have led to a landscape in which only one current manager isn’t white.
Manfred, speaking at Kauffman Stadium prior the opening of the World Series Tuesday night, said that while his office believes that there is a “certain cyclical nature to this,” baseball is hiring a consulting firm to work with minority candidates with a goal of turning more interviews into jobs.
“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,” Manfred said. “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.”
Baseball has a requirement, which Manfred referred to as the “Selig Rule,” that clubs must interview diverse candidates for manager and general manager position. But the game has lost longtime African American managers Lloyd McClendon, fired by Seattle after this offseason, and Ron Washington, who resigned in 2014 in Texas. McClendon was replaced this week by Scott Servais and Jeff Banister took over for Washington, leaving Fredi Gonzalez of Atlanta as the only non-white manager in the majors.
The Nationals, Padres, Marlins and Dodgers all have managerial openings as the World Series begins. Dusty Baker, an African American who has managed the Giants, Cubs and Reds, has interviewed a second time with Washington. Alex Cora, a native of Puerto Rico, and Dave Roberts have been mentioned as potential candidates in San Diego.
[Dusty Baker, Bud Black get second interviews with the Nationals.]
“I haven’t come to the conclusion that we’re going to get to next year with no black managers,” Manfred said. “It could happen.”
But baseball, Manfred said, is looking at this not just as a 2016 issue. MLB is partnering with Korn Ferry, an international executive search firm based in Los Angeles, to “assist minority candidates who get interviews in honing their skills, making sure their presentations in those interviews are as good as they possibly could be.”
“It’s a topic we’re committed to,” Manfred said. “We’re going to look at it as a long-term project. That’s why we’re focused on the beginning of the pipeline as well as the actual hirings at the manager level.”
