There’s a lack of Black managers in pro baseball. Rangers’ Josh Johnson, others aim to change that

GREENSBORO, NC – All they wanted was a picture of an ordinary moment: A line-up exchange on the opening day. They wanted it because, all in all, it was still a bit extraordinary: Two blacks competing against each other in professional baseball.

Unfortunately, there was no one there to document it that May evening.

However, you are convinced that someday someone will notice.

“We’re here,” said Josh Johnson, who faced Kieran Mattison of Pittsburgh’s Greensboro Club earlier this month in his freshman year as Rangers’ Advanced Class A Hickory Manager. “And we can lead.”

Major League Baseball, proud to have broken the color barrier in professional sport, continues to grapple with black’s declining participation in the game. On opening day, only 7% of the players and two out of 30 managers were black. There was no black general manager in the league, although Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox and Michael Hill of the Miami Marlins held executive titles with their clubs.

And the lack of black participation in management spots filters down to minors. Among the minors, only 10 out of 120 year-round clubs were run by black managers. In contrast, there were 29 Hispanic managers (26%) among the minors. When Johnson’s and Mattison’s clubs played against each other, it was one of only three occasions in the minors where two black managers competed against each other.

No wonder they wanted a photo.

“We needed some cameras there,” said Mattison. “It was a great moment. And we developed a friendship from it. We helped each other’s teams get better. We understand the responsibility involved. It’s bigger than me. I want the next generation to have better chances. “

A tough road ahead of us

Greensboro Grasshoppers manager Kieran Mattison.

Johnson wants to become a major league manager.

The odds are against him.

For one thing, he works in the minors. And that’s a very hard way to go these days. It used to be that a long playing career in the smaller leagues and the entry into player development represented a strong résumé. No longer.

The current trend is to move recently retired players quickly to leadership positions. Rangers manager Chris Woodward, for example, spent less than a season in a player development role before joining Seattle’s Major League staff. He never looked back. Of the 30 coaches who started the season, 23 had appeared as players in the majors and most of them had multi-year careers as players.

On the other hand, it is black.

Since Cleveland made Frank Robinson its first black manager in 1974, only 28 MLB manager jobs have gone to black candidates. Most of them came straight from the field to the top division coaching staff and then to the manager. Neither of the two black managers who started the season in the majors came from player development. Houston’s Dusty Baker never spent a day managing the minor leagues, and neither did Dave Roberts of the Dodgers.

Neither Johnson, 35, nor Mattison, 41, can be dissuaded.

“It’s definitely a challenge,” said Johnson. “There is very little room for error. And there are obstacles. When I’m not doing a good job as a black man, it feels like putting a label on other African Americans. It feels like it’s affecting others. Colored men have to be represented in this game so that the next generation also gets a chance.

“But at the same time, I love this challenge,” he added. “I am prepared for it. I was brought here for a reason. The challenges will only make me better. “

Mattison said, “It’s nothing but obstacles, but I suppose so. We have to be efficient. We have to be great to have a chance. I don’t want a handout. I just want a chance. “

The next generation

Hickory Crawdad manager Josh Johnson before playing with the Greensboro Grasshoppers at First National Bank Field on Sunday, August 8, 2021 in Greensboro, NC(Woody Marshall / special article)

Major League Baseball tries to make these odds more realistic.

In 2016, the league hired Tyrone Brooks of the Pirates organization to lead their diversity pipeline program. Brooks began an internship program with the Atlanta Braves almost 15 years earlier, started by the late Henry Aaron. The aim at the time was to increase the minority stake in the front office. From Aaron to Brooks and now to the next generation. Brooks was one of the voices who championed Mattison as a candidate for management.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can to make the guys realize that this is really a way,” said Brooks. “We are trying to show that this is a real path. There are careers. “

The overall goal is more minority participation. Bring minority participation in the game and you will get more players. Get more players and you get a bigger pool of potential coaches, managers and executives.

That was the direction that baseball seemed to be going in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 1981 black representation in MLB cadres reached a high of 18.7%. Players like Aaron and Willie Stargell, who began front office careers at Pittsburgh, sought to involve the next generation of players.

But the talent pool was shrinking, perhaps in part because black athletes moved more towards soccer and basketball, which had strong youth club support, while baseball drifted towards travel ball and private tuition. A generation of black gamblers were essentially excluded from the game.

Travel and ball selection have also been skimmed off by some former players. They could offer lessons or trainers at this level without ever leaving home.

The Brooks division has worked to reverse this trend, especially in the coaching space. In 2021, the diversity pipeline supported a new high with 80 full-time baseball operations or coaching appointments. For example, Kerrick Jackson, former coach of Southern University, has been hired as president of the MLB’s new summer draft league. Two of the league’s six managers in its inaugural season were black, including longtime major league player Coco Crisp, who played 17 professional seasons without ever playing for a black manager.

Crisp, who also works as a coach at Cerritos College in Los Angeles, said he would like to continue dedicating himself to management. He has started putting out feelers to join an organization in 2022.

“I don’t necessarily feel like I should be in the big leagues right away,” he said. “There are steps along the way and I understand that. Whichever path an organization thinks is best, that is the path I want to go. Leading the big leagues would be the ultimate goal, but it’s about loving the game and the next generation. “

Beasley’s dream

Texas Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun (right) laughs with third base trainer Tony Beasley during the first spring training for pitchers and catchers at the team’s training facility on Wednesday, February 12, 2020, in Surprise, Ariz. (Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

Tony Beasley was once the next generation.

He was a 10-year-old minor league player who was at the end of his playing career when Stargell suggested he be a coach. He spent six years managing in the Pirates system and went to the playoffs every year. Got a job with Frank Robinson on Washington staff, then returned to Pittsburgh and worked on the Pirates Big League staff for three more years.

After a change of management in Pittsburgh, he worked for two more years as a triple-A manager of the Nationals. Among his players there: Josh Johnson.

Beasley, now 54, joined the Rangers after 2014 as part of Jeff Banister’s staff. He’s now in his seventh season at the club, the longest-serving employee. He has trained infielder, outfielder, baserunning and has been a third base coach for the past five years. He too wanted to compete in the big league one day. He’s still waiting for his first interview.

“Whatever I accomplished in this game, I want it to be something that I guaranteed,” said Beasley. “I’m not interested in being a token or fulfilling a quota.”

But he knows how much a chance means. He was one of the loudest voices within the Rangers organization, who pushed for Johnson when the club had a vacancy in the minor league.

“He was always very energetic,” said Beasley. “He was a leader and held his teammates accountable. He saw the big picture. “

Perhaps one day this picture shows Johnson handing out the line-up card to another black manager in a major league game.

The hard way

It was almost impossible for a black man to become an MLB manager. Since Frank Robinson pioneered the way when he took over as manager of Cleveland in 1975, there have been only 16 black men (for a total of 28 hires) holding the title of full-time MLB manager in 45 years.

And they all had something in common: MLB gaming experience, and in most cases a decade or more of it. On average, the men on this list played an average of 1,459 MLB games, representing 10 seasons of 145 games per year. A look at the list (sorted by manager earnings):

Manager	Games played	Managerial activities	Record
Dusty baker	2,039	5	1962-1715 *
I am quoting Gaston	1,026	2	894-837
Jerry Manuel	96	2	704-684
Ron Washington	564	1	684-612
Don Baylor	2,292	2	627-689
Dave Roberts	832	1	514-319 *
Lloyd McClendon	570	2	501-613
Hal McRae	2,084	2	399-473
Frank Robinson	2,808	4th	385-425
Willie Randolph	2,202	1	302-253
Cecil Cooper	1,896	1	171-170
Dave Lopes	1,812	1	144-195
Bo Porter	89	1	110-190
Jerry Royster	1,428	1	53-94
Larry Doby	1,670	1	37-50
Maury Wills	1,942	1	26-56

* Active, recordings are through Thursday

+++

Check out more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News.

[ad_1]