Fair ball: Harper says Sox gave Hale a chance

Interviewing Hale, the African-American first base coach for the Texas Rangers who formerly managed in the Sox system, appeared to be the epitome of tokenism. Some might argue that the episode falls in line with the Sox' shameful history when it comes to race. What do you expect from a team that was the last to integrate its roster with an African-American (Pumpsie Green in 1959) and with Francona makes it 44 consecutive white managers in 100 years?

Tommy Harper, the former Red Sox player and coach, attended the press conference in which a nervous Hale met the media, as a friend. Harper has some race-tinged Sox history of his own: He blew the whistle the Elks Club in Winter Haven for inviting only white players to functions during spring training, and there also was an incident in a Baltimore hotel in which he complained of being harassed by security personnel.

But Harper insisted that Hale got a fair shake.

"I can assure you I feel confident that DeMarlo got a fair interview," said Harper, echoing Hale's own comments. "I can understand where people might be skeptical, but having been around the people in this organization and on this team, I know that's not true."

In interviewing Hale, who last year interviewed for the Texas job before Buck Showalter was hired, Harper said the Sox were fulfilling Larry Lucchino's pledge to go beyond the usual suspects in seeking a manager. Hale was the only one of the four candidates interviewed who did not have previous big-league managing experience. Francona managed the Phillies for four years; Joe Maddon, Anaheim's bench coach, twice managed the Angels on an interim basis; and Glenn Hoffman, the third base coach in Los Angeles, managed the Dodgers on an interim basis as well.

The problem, Harper said, is that the mandate requiring at least one minority candidate to be interviewed invites skepticism, both for the candidates and the public.

"I know Bud Selig's intentions are good," Harper said. "This is not about bashing the commissioner. But maybe the wording should be changed. Instead of requiring teams to interview minorities, maybe it should say they're encouraged to interview. If that doesn't work, revisit the subject, but I understand the skepticism.

"Now you have candidates who won't come because they think it's not worthwhile going. When you know that a team has to interview a minority candidate, well, if I'm sitting at home and I get a phone call and I know they haven't interviewed one yet, I might react that way, too.

"It's important for people to trust this business, that we have a system that people can trust so when someone is called for an interview, we can trust that that interview is legit. Now we have skepticism, and I don't blame anyone for being skeptical. But when we have minority candidates who refuse to come, then we're losing good people."

Would merely encouraging teams to interview minorities assure that they get a fair shake? Baseball has tried that in the past, and the numbers would suggest that the mandatory compliance rule has been a necessary nudge in increasing the number of minority managers now in the game.

Hale's interview, Harper said, was important in another respect: The minority figures who have managed in the big leagues -- Frank Robinson, Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou, Tony Pena, Davey Lopes, Don Baylor, among others -- have mostly had a high profile, as big-league stars or at least guys who have played in the big leagues. It's encouraging, Harper said, that a career baseball lifer like Hale, who never played in the majors, would get the same consideration that a Joe Maddon did. The more that happens, Harper said, the better the system will be.

Hamm tale is baloney

There's a story making the rounds that soccer star Mia Hamm, recently wed to Nomar Garciaparra, was angling to be traded by her professional soccer team, the Washington Freedom, to the Boston Breakers before the WUSA suspended operations. As the story went, Hamm had an understanding with the league that any such trade request would be granted.

Makes for an interesting story, said Joe Cummings, the general manager of the Breakers, and there was a move afoot last summer to bring soccer's reigning queen to Boston, but that move was initiated not by Hamm, but by Cummings himself.

"I expressed interest in Mia playing in Boston," Cummings said yesterday. "I contacted the Washington Freedom to see if they had interest in trading Mia."

At no time, Cummings said, did Hamm express an interest in being traded to Boston, nor did the league get involved, though he acknowledged that had Hamm voiced such a desire, the process might have been accelerated. Any deal involving Hamm, he said, probably would have cost him his own franchise player, Kristine Lilly, in a multiplayer deal that would have involved draft choices. But talks never got that far, he said.

Cummings hopes the Breakers will be back in business in some form next year and up and running on a full-time basis in 2005. But he's taken note of the trade talk about the Sox sending Garciaparra to the Angels or Dodgers.

"Shoot," he said, "now the San Diego Spirit will be trying to get Mia."

Here's deal on A-Rod

Here's one reason the Alex Rodriguez trade will get done: Just as the NBA hardly shed a tear when Shaquille O'Neal was traded to one of its showpiece franchises (the Los Angeles Lakers), Major League Baseball will be ecstatic to have its best player in Boston, further stoking the greatest rivalry in sports, Red Sox-Yankees. The Sox would have a player who compares favorably not only in talent but also public persona to Mr. Yankee, Derek Jeter. From a marketing standpoint, nothing could be better than the Sox landing A-Rod, who embraces the spotlight that Garciaparra so loathes and also is the anti-Manny in terms of personality and character.

Privately, MLB officials acknowledge their stake in A-Rod getting out of Texas, and how much added value he would give the Red Sox, especially in the starring role as the face of the franchise on NESN, which already is a cash cow for Sox ownership, with room to grow.

There's just too much momentum for the deal not to happen, although the Sox -- adamant about not assuming any of Manny Ramirez's contract -- are looking for A-Rod to restructure his deal to allow them to offer financial incentive to Texas that would allow the Rangers to upgrade their pitching staff.

"What better way to end all the talk about Babe Ruth," said one party intimately involved with the Sox/Rangers talks, "than for the Red Sox to get the player who will end up setting the all-time record for home runs?"

As for Lucchino's insistence that the Sox want to re-sign Garciaparra: Nothing speaks louder than the fact that they asked for, and got, permission to talk to A-Rod. Signing Garciaparra, as beloved as he is in Boston, ranks no better than Plan B to that.

Problems ahead?

One baseball executive who knows Francona and Curt Schilling warns of problems stemming from Schilling's public lobbying for Francona to get the Sox job. The first sign of preferential treatment for Schilling, the executive said, will invite resentment in the clubhouse . . . Did you know that Lee Thomas, who was one of Dan Duquette's chief lieutenants but was bounced out of his role as one of Theo Epstein's advisers after the season, traded for Schilling and hired Francona as general manager of the Phillies? Schilling helped pitch the Phillies to the '93 World Series, and Thomas eventually was fired after bringing Francona on board. "Terry's a nice guy," Thomas said. "With the Phillies, we were bad, but I knew he could handle it if we didn't win right away. He's an upbeat guy. I think Terry learned a lot with the Phillies. We were bad, and he knew that it would probably take two or three years for us to win. Terry learned an awful lot. He'll be very well prepared to handle this." . . . Some of the biggest free agent names appear to be falling in place. Seattle is making a big push for Miguel Tejada (Pat Gillick, who is serving new GM Bill Bavasi in an advisory capacity, visited Tejada in the Dominican Republic), while one major league executive predicted the Orioles will land outfielder Vladimir Guerrero and catcher Javy Lopez. The Expos are trying to re-sign Guerrero, but the executive said the Orioles are prepared to give Guerrero six years at $13 million-$14 million per. Pudge Rodriguez, barring a last-minute change of heart, is expected to turn down a two-year, $16 million offer from the Marlins, who kept their promise to try to keep their team intact by re-signing Luis Castillo and Mike Lowell to multiyear deals . . . The Braves told the Dodgers they had no interest in Kevin Brown, but Atlanta expects to be active on the trade front to compensate for the losses of Lopez, Gary Sheffield, and most likely Greg Maddux.

Material from personal interviews, wire service reports, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.