Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott agrees to sell her controlling interest in the Reds to a group headed by Carl H. Lindner, ending her 14-year tenure. The group will pay a total of $67 million.
1996 – Longtime umpire John McSherry collapses and dies from a heart attack on Opening Day at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, in the 1st inning of a game between the Reds and Expos, which is cancelled. The 51-year-old McSherry had umpired in the National League for 26 seasons. Reds owner Marge Schott hits a low point with her insensitive remarks, blaming the late umpire for spoiling the team’s opening day celebrations.
At Riverfront Stadium, in a game that is not embraced by the local fans or Cincinnati owner Marge Schott, the new season begins with the first Sunday night opener ever played in major league history. On a frigid Easter Sunday evening, the Cardinals beat the Reds in the controversial contest, 6-4, in front of the smallest opening day crowd in the ballpark’s 24-year history.
1993 – Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott returns to take over the day-to-day operations of the Reds following her nine-month suspension for using racial and ethnic epithets.
Marge Schott is suspended for one year and fined $25,000 by a committee of her major league peers for bringing “disrepute and embarrassment” to the national pastime. The 64 year-old will also be required to attend and complete multi-cultural sensitivity training programs due to the numerous racial and ethnic remarks she is alleged to have made as the owner of the Reds.
1992 – Marge Schott is quoted in today’s New York Times as saying, that Adolph Hitler was initially good for Germany, that her references to “niggers” were in jest, and that she couldn’t understand why the word “Jap” was offensive. The major leagues will appoint a four-man committee to investigate Schott and will eventually suspend her for her insensitive and inappropriate remarks.
March 2, 1989 Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott settles a salary dispute with outfielder Kal Daniels by flipping a coin in the parking lot of the spring training complex on live TV. Daniels wins the toss and collects an extra $25k in 1989. Daniels will be traded to the Dodgers during the season and hit…