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Date:         Fri, 20 Nov 1992 08:03:17 -0400
From:         Rick George <RIGEORGE@VASSAR.BITNET>
Subject:      Marge Schott

You can add Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott to the ranks of those
who give insight into the attitudes of some of those who control
professional sports.

Schott recently won a lawsuit in which a former Reds employee, Tim
Sabo (he was the Controller) alleged that his 1991 firing was due
to racial discrimination (Sabo, who is white, made it known to
Schott that he was upset by her frequent racial and religious
slurs, as well as her discriminatory hiring practices).

Today, the New York Post has excerpts of an under oath depostion of
Ms. Schott that was conducted by Stephen Imm, the attorney for Sabo:

Imm:      Do you realize it's [the term "nigger"] an offensive term
          to blacks?

Schott:   Yes, I think it is an offensive term to blacks.  I don't
          know; I've never really asked them.  I would think it would
          be offensive.  Maybe it's not offensive to them; I don't know.

Imm:      Have you ever referred to Martin Luther King Day as Nigger
          Day?

Schott:   I don't believe so.  I wouldn't even know when Martin Luther
          King Day is.

Imm:      ...it's in January.  Does that help your recollection?  Have
          you ever called it Nigger Day?

Schott:   I hope not.

Imm:      Is it possible you have?

Schott:   Anything's possible.

Later

Imm:      Do you have a swastika armband that you keep as memorabilia
          of anything?

Schott:   At my home I do, in a drawer.

[Imm then asks about Cal Levy, former Reds marketing director seeing the
armband]

Imm:      Do you recall Mr. Levy being offended by the armband?

Schott:   No, I don't.  I don't know why he'd be offended by the armband.

Imm:      Well, I mean, you understand what it represents, don't you?

Schott:   Hitler.

Imm:      Yeah?

Schott:   The Nazis.

There's a lot more of the transcript in the Post.  Cal Levy testified
under oath that Schott frequently referred to black players as niggers
and referred to Eric Davis and Dave Parker as her "million dollar
niggers."  He also said that Schott rejected an overture by Cincinnati
restaurant owner Lawrence Horowitz to sell a food product at Riverfront
Stadium by saying "Sneaky Goddamned Jews are all alike."

There are more examples given in the Post article, but I don't want
to fill people's mailers any more.  What will come of this?  Henry
Aaron has called for Major League Baseball to investigate Schott,
but don't look for too much out of that.  Who will do the investigating?
Probably the Commissioner and remember that the owners just fired
a Commissioner who wasn't a rubber stamp.  Since then, they've done
things like overturn the lifetime ban on Steve Howe (everyone deserves
a second chance, Steve, but this is your eighth!).  Apparently the
owners are not interested in making good character or sound business
ethics requirements for ownership.

...Rick (who feels very naive for not realizing how many people feel
this way every time he reads something like this)
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