Before the NFL had the Rooney Rule, Major League Baseball had the Selig Rule. It derived from a memo that the then-commissioner Bud Selig sent to teams in 1999, requiring that teams “interview women and racial minority candidates for manager, general manager, assistant general manager, and directors of player development and scouting openings”.
Shakeia Taylor wrote about the rule and how it did little to nothing for managers of colour in MLB:
Twenty-two years later, Selig’s goals remain admirable. But evidence suggests that the rule bearing his name has had minimal effect on the makeup of baseball’s top decision-makers. A new study from Arizona State University’s Global Sport Institute examining MLB manager hiring and firing patterns from 2010 to 2019 has found that while managers of color during that time period had the same or more robust playing and coaching experience as their White peers, the managers of color were hired through a more narrow career pathway and within a smaller age range, had shorter tenures, and enjoyed fewer second chances.
Related: Check out Lou Moore’s piece on Major League Baseball allowing its drain of Black players to continue.