The Equal Opportunity Committee of MLB issued an update on
baseball's opportunity efforts over the past year. The last EOC
report was in June '94. Among the findings: MLB has seen a
decrease in the percentage of women in central offices and front
office positions. Central offices include the Commissioner,
A.L., N.L. offices, the Players Relations Committee and MLB
Properties. In '93-94, 111 women were employed in the central
offices making up 56% of the workforce. In '95-96, women made up
54% with 76 employees. But the percentage of women as executives
and department heads increased from 10% to 21% on the central
office level, but remained at 13% in the club's front offices.
The percentage of African-American employees in the central
offices increased slightly, but remained at 9% in club front
offices, the same level since '89. The greatest increase was in
the number of female owners/investors in teams, which grew from
31 in '94 to 43 in '95-96. On the whole, hiring numbers showed
no dramatic gain in any one category (MLB).
REACTION: Minority hiring changed little "despite promises
from owners to improve ethnic diversity" (DETROIT NEWS, 5/10).
ESPN's Bob Ley: "If progress is measured by numbers, then Major
League Baseball is not making progress" ("SportsCenter," ESPN,
5/9).
