Racial Report Card Scores Low Marks

With labor problems dominating professional sports during the past year, little progress was made increasing the share of minorities in league offices.

“Even the casual fan knew this was not the best year for professional sport,” concuded the Racial Report Card, released Wednesday by Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

Richard Lapchick, the center’s director, noted gains have been made since Los Angeles Dodgers vice president Al Campanis said in 1987 that blacks “may not have some of the necessities” to be managers or general managers in baseball.

“But we still have a long way to go in certain key categories,” Lapchick said. “Since Campanis, and then reinforced by Marge Schott, there was a spotlight on minority representation. That seemed to stop, and in administration, be reversed this year. I would have to guess that the focus on labor was a primary cause of that.”