New York, NY, May 6, 1996...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today that Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott's comments that Hitler was good when he came into power "are profoundly ignorant and offensive," and called on Major League Baseball to take "appropriate corrective action to protect the sport's image."

Kenneth Jacobson, ADL Assistant National Director, issued the following statement:

Marge Schott's comments on ESPN about Hitler -- "Everything you read, when he came in [to power] he was good...They built tremendous highways and got all the factories going...Everybody knows he was good at the beginning but he just went too far."-- are profoundly ignorant, offensive, and taint America's beloved national pastime. Obviously, Ms. Schott, who was disciplined in 1993 by Major League Baseball for her racist and anti-Semitic remarks and favorable comments on the Nazi leader, has not learned her lesson.

What everybody knows, but apparently not Ms. Schott, is that Hitler's blueprint for Germany's dominance of the world and for the Jews were made public in 1924 in Mein Kampf, nine years before he came to power in Germany in 1933. Hitler was the personification of evil from the time he entered the public arena.

If Ms. Schott is to continue in her highly visible role as owner of a prominent and historic franchise, she bears a responsibility to her fellow owners, the players and the fans to refrain from public expressions of prejudice and bigotry. We urge Acting Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to promptly take appropriate corrective action to protect the sport's image, and we offer him ADL's expertise in Holocaust education and prejudice reduction as he considers appropriate redress for Ms. Schott's unfortunate and offensive statements.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.