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[email protected], 315-450-1420 The 2011 Racial and Gender Report Card: Major League Baseball By Richard Lapchick with Christina Cloud, Aaron Gearlds, Tavia Record, Elizabeth Schulz, Jake Spiak and Matthew Vinson published April 21, 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Orlando, FL – April 21, 2011…Major League Baseball continues to demonstrate an outstanding record on the issue of racial and gender hiring practices. However, after steady improvement in both areas for several years, this year there were decreases in the percentages of people of color and women in several categories. Overall, baseball received an A for race and a B- for gender in the 2011 Report Card. The Racial and Gender Report Card annually asks, “Are we playing fair when it comes to sports? Does everyone, regardless of race or gender, have a chance at bat or to operate a team?” Baseball’s grade for race dipped slightly from 92.5 to 91.6, while its grade for gender dropped from 82 to 79.3. Baseball’s overall score for the 2011 Report Card is 85.5, which is lower than the 2010 score of 87.3 that was MLB’s best-ever combined score. MLB’s combined grade for 2011 is a B+. Richard Lapchick, principal author of the study and director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, said, “Bud Selig has helped make MLB’s central and team front offices look more like America. “Jackie Robinson’s dream was to see more African-Americans playing, coaching and in the front office.