During Black History Month, Historic Black American Threatens to Make Baseball History.

February 10, 1995.

How did Ted Kennedy's Major League Baseball Restoration Act go over with the American public? Did anyone--players, owners, or fans--feel any sense of hope and optimism with President Clinton's personally appointed labor negotiator?

New York Times sportswriter Claire Smith had an answer.

First, the prologue. Claire Smith is nothing short of a historic figure. She is the first female baseball reporter for the Hartford Courant. In fact, she was one of the first female sports reporters anywhere.

Smith takes timeout at the 1995 All-Star game with Sandy Koufax and Steve Garvey.

How Claire Smith got her start a sports reporter is nothing short of historic. During the 1981 World Series, Sports Illustrated Reporter Mellisa Ludtke was assigned to cover the 1981 World Series. The New York Yankees were playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, matched together for the third time in four years. One would think that more than a decade after the explosion of the women's rights movement, a female reporter could just walk into the Yankees clubhouse and do her job.

But it was not to be. She tried to walk in. The Yankees denied her access. She sued. She won. As a condition of the lawsuit, every American League team had to allow equal access.

In other words, women were allowed to do their job. Shortly thereafter, the Courant hired Claire Smith to cover the New York Yankees.

Story over? Not really. The plot thicken once again! When the Courant assigned Smith to cover the 1984 National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres, discrimination struck again.

Years later, Smith would recall in vivid detail what happened when she tried to interview the players after Game 1:

"I go down with the rest of the reporters. I'm in the clubhouse. Some of the Padres started chirping and cursing. 'Get her out of here.' So on and so forth.

"Some of the staff come and start saying, 'You have to leave, you have to leave, you're not allowed in here.' As they were ushering me out, I went right past Jack McKeon, who was the general manager, and I said, 'They say I have to leave.' And he said, 'That's right, this is [manager] Dick Williams' clubhouse.'

"At that point, it was either a trainer or a clubhouse guy — he had Padres gear on — he literally put his hand on my back and pushed me toward the door. As I was pushed out the door, Dick Williams was coming back from the interview room. I said, 'They say I have to leave.' And he said, 'That's right,' and just kept going."

After the trauma of being physically assaulted simply for doing her job, Padres First Baseman Steve Garvey walked on the field to conduct an interview. Smith reported on the game, but the real story was her eviction from the clubhouse and subsequent victory the following day: Yes, women were allowed to enter the clubhouse of National League teams, too.

Stay classy, San Diego: Steve Garvey comes to the rescue.

Smith would grow in her career as well, and by 1995, she was an established sports writer with the distinguished New York Times. In the wake of the strike, Clinton's multiple attempts at mediation, and now Ted Kennedy's attempt at restoration, Smith used the power of the pen to speak for fans of every race, creed, color, gender, and national origin.

Fans Should Turn Their Backs, Too. That was the bold headline from the conservative New York Times. This from a woman who had made sports writing her livelihood. A trailblazer who had accomplished so much for so long, who had recently been promoted from small-city beat writer to work for the nation's largest newspaper. The message to the players and owners alike was clear: we don't want you anymore.

"What an embarrassment," wrote Smith. "Not for Clinton or Gore, mind you. For Major League Baseball, an arrogant, spoiled industry that is, as everyone knows by know, not only capable of commanding such an audience, but of ignoring it, too."

A less than optimistic Bill Clinton tries to get baseball back on track on a Feb.
7, 1995 press conference. Vice President Al Gore looks even less optimistic. 

Smith spared no one from criticism. She expertly labeled members of Congress the "Sultans of Not." While a dysfunctional Congress may be what we in the business call "an evergreen story," the baseball's popularity nosedive was a relatively new development, from which Smith offered further insight and analysis.

"Pete Rose and his gambling scandal may started the hemorrhaging back in 1989. The death of a commissioner,Bart Giamatti, wounded the game again. The death of the commissioner's office made the sadness complete after the owners sacked Fay Vincent, a man who wanted to make peace with the player. Player related scandals, drugs, tax violations, and just aberrant behavior have fueled the deterioration of the game's image."

The point was clear: Major League Baseball may not be salvageable, or even worth the effort. Smith closed with a recommendation that those who still do care about baseball practice tough love. And why not? "The owners and players won't notice, anyway," Smith lamented. "They're too busy seeing the destruction of each other."

Six weeks from the start projected of opening day, and one of baseball's most distinguished writers was willing and able to search for a new career path. What chance did Major League Baseball have to get back on track?