Major League Baseball is planning to provide assistance if there are openings in baseball operations for the top contenders, in particular women and minorities
MLB announced Thursday that it has hired the executive search firm Korn Ferry to provide "support services" for the candidates for the baseball operations positions and assist the team in research processes.
This is clearly a step beyond the pretty empty requirements of the so-called "Selig Rule," where the head of the team "considers" candidates of minority for managerial and other positions. I hope this will increase the number of women and minorities involved in leadership positions in baseball.
Manfred made his comment at the end of owners meetings that were quietly held at a luxury hotel in downtown Chicago for two days. Billy Bean, MLB's ambassador for inclusion, gave a presentation on Thursday about his work. The owners also listened to various committees reports as well as to a domestic violence presentation.
Among the majors, there were 65 women's club vice president roles last season, which was 17.3% of the total positions. People of color held 14.4% of the vice president positions.
"If the next four years go as fast as the first one," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said. "I'm going to be looking for a renewal soon because it's gone pretty darn quickly. Look, the organization does not look very much like it looked a year ago. We've made tremendous change internally."
Clearly, increasing the representation of women and minorities in leadership positions in baseball operations is a good move. Let's just hope that the other leagues will follow suit. It's high time we see women holding leadership positions in these organizations.