Maury Brown of the excellent Biz In Baseball has already sounded the alarm regarding Houston businessman Jim Crane’s questionable practices at the shipping firm Eagle Global Logistics, and said history is likely to receive greater attention in light of Crane purchasing the Astros from Drayton McLane. Some of that attention came this morning from the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir ; just because this is old news doesn’t mean it’s any less squirm-worthy.
Eagle, run by a former college pitcher named Jim Crane, had failed to promote blacks, Hispanics and women into managerial positions, the agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. Eagle had also demoted women from managerial positions, maintained a hostile workplace, paid blacks, Hispanics and women less than male and white counterparts, and shredded important documents, the agency said.
The report cited an accusation that Crane told his managers not to hire blacks because “once you hire blacks, you can never fire them.” Witnesses said Crane did not permit Eagle to advertise job openings because he did not want to build up files of applications by qualified minority job-seekers.
Crane and his company aggressively fought the E.E.O.C. and similar allegations in a civil lawsuit brought by some former employees. But Crane, without admitting wrongdoing, eventually signed a consent decree that settled the charges for $8.5 million.
Rob Manfred, an executive vice president of baseball, would not address the findings of the E.E.O.C. He described Crane as a “viable candidate” to take over the Astros.