Editor's note: ESPN baseball analysts Doug Glanville and Alex Cora debate the merits of the Selig Rule, which requires every club to consider minority candidates for high-level positions within organizations.
Dear Doug,
I remember that conversation we had about the Selig Rule and how I believe it hasn't helped much at all. Seeing Fredi Gonzalez fired -- now the majors have no Latino managers -- reinforces my belief that the Selig Rule is one without weight behind it.
Ozzie Guillen and my brother, Joey, recently spoke about the topic and expressed that they don't feel great about the process, either, especially the past two years. There have been multiple openings, but only the Nationals (with Dusty Baker) and the Dodgers (with Dave Roberts) have hired minority managers. Now, with Fredi gone, there are no Latino managers in Major League Baseball.
You can understand my frustration with the process. The Selig Rule has been around since 1999. How much has changed?
From talking to a lot of people in baseball and a lot of Latin baseball people, I gathered that they think the Selig Rule is a cop-out and the interviews themselves are token interviews.
Just this past February, commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned on Outside the Lines that one team had been fined for violating the Selig Rule.
"It was a situation in which a club had identified a particular candidate and didn't really think of it as an interview process, even though there was an opening," Manfred said. "They really had their mind made up as to where they were going."
I believe that whoever is capable of doing any job should be hired to do that job. I don't see a reason to have a rule just to bring people through to interview, especially if both sides feel they are being forced to do it.
Here's the thing: I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for us. We're capable of doing great things. Interview us because we're qualified. But if you don't think we're right for the job, don't interview us.
That's one reason the rule isn't working. Then again, in the end, we're not getting hired. There aren't a lot of Latinos in front offices -- Detroit's Al Avila is the only Latino general manager -- and now there are no managers.
In that same Outside the Lines, commissioner Rob Manfred talked about the issue. He mentioned the process and what MLB is trying to do to improve it, not only on the field but also in other areas of the game. The thing I didn't appreciate was Manfred's talking about education and how it might be specifically affecting Latinos because the game is evolving with advanced statistics and computers.
"Obviously, the quantitative part of our game has exploded," Manfred said. "And, you know, to the extent that you're dealing with big data, analyzing that data and making decisions based on that data, higher education can be an advantage."
That's one thing some Latinos in our game don't have much of. When you're signed as a 16-, 17- or 18-year-old out of the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, you don't finish school. Often, you don't go back.
That won't change. So if education is an obstacle to getting an opportunity to be a manager or in a front office, then our chances get slimmer. But it shouldn't be an obstacle. My brother went to Vanderbilt. I went to Miami. Eduardo Perez went to Florida State. So did Kansas City Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol. Education is not an obstacle to all of us.
Omar Minaya noted that it's just another way to keep qualified baseball people out.
"At one time, the reason that was given was because some of these guys didn't speak English well enough or something like that," he said. "Or ... some guys didn't have a quote-unquote educational background. I think sometimes those reasons were talked about a while back. "
With every club, there are two lines to management and the front office: a regular line and a VIP line. There aren't many of us in the VIP line. As I mentioned earlier, Avila is the only Latino GM. Some current managers and some GMs were special advisors in front offices before being hired. From the outside, it appears that if you aren't in that inner circle, you can't get hired. How will organizations groom us if we -- and I'm talking about the whole group and not just me -- aren't in that inner circle?
That's my frustration with the process. From rookie ball to the big leagues, we're everywhere. We have bench coaches, pitching coaches and hitting coaches. We have capable coaches, but for some reason, we don't have managers.
"I think they should put [a] little bit more attention on what we can bring to the table," Ozzie told OTL. "Not because baseball not runnin' the game right or wrong. Not because we're a minority.
"I think we need opportunity because [of] what we know about the game."
Yes, we know about the game. We have a rich history in the game. We have experience in the game. We influence the game. Just see what Minaya said about the Mets and Royals in the World Series.
"You just look at the last World Series. Just look at what [Yoenis Cespedes] brought to the Mets. Just look at what [Alcides] Escobar brought to the Royals," he said. "It's a beautiful part of baseball right now."
MLB might be working to take all the right steps, but recently, for example, the list of team representatives in this year's draft came out, and there were two Latinos and a handful of African Americans on it. What's the harm in sending Doug Glanville to represent the Phillies, Carlos Delgado to represent the Blue Jays and other great minority players to represent teams in the draft if Major League Baseball really, truly wants diversity?
Seriously, are we really trying? Why have the rule in the first place if the rule is clearly not working?
I understand all your points and respect your opinion. l learned a lot reading your letter. But I'm sure there are others who feel the way I do. And maybe there are those who feel differently. What's important is that we're having this dialogue, and we want to bridge the gap. True diversity will come when we all get the opportunity to land jobs.
All we really want is a real chance -- not a token interview. We're not happy to just get interviews, the same way we're not happy to just make it to the big leagues.
It's time to change the rules. More importantly, it's time to open the minds of the people who make decisions.
Tu pana,
AC