[NU Sports] perhaps of interest

[Roy S. Lamberton]

Willie has given us a great insight into not only is issue of Black Management in
Baseball, but a window into the inner workings of the Nightline show as it was run under
Mr. Koppel.

I would not presume to speak for Mr. Capanaris, but out in the suburbs when it happened, a
common perception was that most non-white players had little interest in either coaching
or managing a pro team at any level because they were already making a lot more money and
saw greater opportunity outside of baseball.

Jackie Robinson became a top executive in the food industry. My father knew several black
players on the Jets who became very active in the financial industry. They had the
opportunity to take a job (or start a business) that would keep them close to home, rather
than the gypsy life of a pro baseball manager, coach or executive.

Something else to consider is the number of front office jobs in professional sports.
There are more of them than broadcasting, but I'd bet you have a better shot at rising up
through my old business than you do in a sports organization, regardless of color.

The Ravens have Ozzie Newsom who is widely regarded as a top picker of talent in the NFL.
If you listen to him talk, you realize he had the fire inside to become a leader of a
successful organization. You see that sports team organizational fire in some players (Ray
Lewis, Peyton Manning, later Magic Johnson) and you can almost predict they will go on in
some organization. Others have different interests.

All Campanaris was really trying to say (IMHO) was that as a top executive in a sports
organization, he didn't see the black players demonstrating the interest in working up the
ladder of professional baseball. He used the wrong words, and probably was in the wrong
forum - maybe he should have been speaking to a group of black ballplayers and challenging
them to consider the front office.

The most recent black kid who I've been around as he played baseball has the background
and smarts to eventually work his way up thru an organization, but his goal right now is
to be on sports radio! 

Hopefully, he'll find out that it is the management team who really makes the money, but
those are the hopes and dreams of too many HS kids with a little speed and talent. All I
can do is encourage all of those kids to move on to college or some other career where
they can be successful. 

rsl 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Opinions expressed above are mine alone and are not
those of any organizations of which I am a member.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
Coach Roy's Random Thoughts - http://coachroy.org
--------------------- Also ----------------------
"Commissioner" Delaware American Legion Baseball
Director Media Relations - Little League 
  Senior League Softball World Series
CTR2 USN (67-70) - CTRCS USNR (Ret) (64-67/70-95)
Northwestern University - Speech 1974 - 
Chi Phi: Pi 1974, KD 1968
Publisher Emeritus: Purple Reign (Fox Sports)
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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
Weinbaum, Willie
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 2:07 PM
To: Northwestern Wildcats (nwu-sports at tssi.com)
Subject: [NU Sports] perhaps of interest

Gang,

I wrote the piece at this link, which also has two video features I worked on, re: the
25th anniversary this Friday of the Al Campanis/Nightline episode.  Not a N'western item,
but perhaps of interest...

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7751398/how-al-campanis-controversial-racial-remark
s-cost-career-highlighted-mlb-hiring-practices

Thanks,
Willie

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