BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Two Steps in Right Direction

The hirings of Don Baylor as manager of the Colorado Rockies and Tony Perez as manager of the Cincinnati Reds make this a benchmark week in what has been baseball’s snail-pace employment of minorities in pivotal field and front-office positions.

There are now five minority managers among the 27 at the major league level, with the Seattle Mariners’ post still vacant but likely to go to Lou Piniella, providing the Mariners yield to his demand for a four-year, $3.2-million contract.

Besides Baylor and Perez, the minority managers are Cito Gaston of the Toronto Blue Jays, Hal McRae of the Kansas City Royals and Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos. Five of 27 isn’t an overwhelming percentage, but since the Expos fired Tom Runnells last summer, three of six managerial hirings have been minorities: Alou by the Expos, Baylor by the Rockies and Perez by the Reds. The others: Kevin Kennedy by the Texas Rangers, Rene Lachemann by the Florida Marlins and Jim Riggelman by the San Diego Padres.

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But although the clubhouse door is more than ajar now, the door to the front office still seems closed.

In the area of meaningful personnel positions, there has been virtually no movement since Al Campanis, then director of player personnel with the Dodgers, appeared on Nightline in April of 1987 and said that blacks lacked the “necessities” to manage in the majors.

His blunder initiated a sweeping campaign of minority hiring in baseball’s secretarial and administrative positions, but not one of the 28 teams employs a minority general manager.

And only Bob Watson, assistant general manager of the Houston Astros, Frank Robinson, assistant general manager of the Baltimore Orioles, and Reggie Waller, scouting director of the San Diego Padres, have more than figurehead personnel positions.

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Henry Aaron, the figurehead vice president of the Atlanta Braves, recently criticized the interviewing process by saying minorities were given only token consideration for managerial vacancies.

The charge seems to have been deflated somewhat by the Baylor and Perez hirings, although they are basically unrelated except for the minority aspect.

The Rockies conducted a long, careful search before awarding the security of a three-year contract to a man with no deep or longstanding ties to any of the owners or General Manager Bob Gebhard, suggesting he was hired strictly on the merit of his interview and what others said about him.

Perez, by contrast, was an in-house hire who came comparatively cheaply, a significant consideration for Red owner Marge Schott.

Predecessor Piniella had a three-year contract. The untested Perez, long Schott’s favorite on the Piniella and Pete Rose coaching staffs, received one year.

In agreeing--or was it acquiescing?--Perez was also told that three members of the minor league staff, Don Gullett, Ron Oester and Dave Miley, would join his coaching staff, depriving him of the choice, and that he would also have to accept the clubhouse antics of Schottzie II, the owner’s St. Bernard.

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In fact, all seven of the candidates for the Reds’ vacancy--Oester and Miley being two--were asked how they would handle the dog. Said Perez, who carries the nickname of Doggie:

“It’s the owner’s dog. We’ll have to figure out how to get the dog on the field so that it doesn’t interfere with the players.”

Perez left Cuba when he was 17 and spent 23 years as a big league player, the best of those years as a first base force with Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of the ‘70s. He has been a coach with the Reds for the last six years and understands--or should--that the difficulty of his new job transcends his never having managed at any level.

He must cope with an eccentric owner determined to cut costs and a rookie general manager, Jim Bowden, who, at 31, is baseball’s youngest. Greg Swindell, Glenn Braggs and Dave Martinez probably will leave as free agents. Chris Sabo might be exposed to the expansion draft. Piniella and General Manager Bob Quinn heard nothing of new contracts and left only two years after leading the Reds to a World Series victory.

Stir in Perez’s lack of managerial experience and it’s a tenuous mix.

“I have to prove myself,” Perez said. “I know some people consider me a sleeping dog. I don’t talk much, but I can act. You’re going to see a different person as manager.”

We’re seeing it. Finally.

Gaston, McRae, Alou, Kennedy, Riggelman, Baylor, Perez. Throw in Phil Garner, Gene Lamont and John Oates.

The string of recycled managers is being broken on a wide front, and the hiring of minority managers, while still on a disturbingly narrow level, is now getting more than lip service, at least.

Time will tell, of course, how successful Baylor and Perez are, but it was time they had the chance.

* NEW LEADER

The Cincinnati Reds choose one of their own, Tony Perez, as their new manager. C6