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 For Immediate Release
Jun 6, 2000 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ASKED TO INVESTIGATE ORIOLES' POLICY ON HIRING CUBAN DEFECTORS

Orioles Spokesmen Admitted to Discriminatory Hiring Practices

Major League Baseball's Silence ‘Deafening'

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch asked Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig yesterday to investigate the hiring practices of the Baltimore Orioles and its owner Peter Angelos. Spokesmen for the Orioles and Angelos have admitted in published reports to refusing to consider hiring Cuban defectors for the struggling team. Judicial Watch also recently filed a similar complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The letter to Selig, which was sent on June 5, 2000, asks Major League Baseball immediately to investigate the Orioles organization for allegations of discriminatory conduct in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In its letter to Mr. Selig, Judicial Watch wrote:
    Given Major League Baseball's handling of such matters as the Marge Schott and John Rocker unpleasantries, its silence in the face of the actual admissions of misconduct by the Orioles is deafening.
"Marge Schott had her team effectively taken away from her for making racial remarks. Certainly the admissions by the Orioles of discriminatory practices against Cuban defectors are just as severe," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Major League Baseball needs to clean up its act and get to the bottom of the Orioles' hiring practices."

Judicial Watch is a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes corruption. A copy of Judicial Watch's letter to Mr. Selig is available on the Judicial Watch Internet site at www.judicialwatch.org.

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