Marge Schott is the latest baseball figure to have a racist legacy catch up to her.
The University of Cincinnati announced Tuesday that it had voted to remove the former Reds owner’s name from its baseball stadium and library.
Schott, who died in 2004, was well known for her repugnant views toward multiple ethnic groups including African Americans, Jewish Americans and Asian Americans. She was suspended by Major League Baseball from 1996-1998 following statements she made in support of Adolf Hitler.
She soon sold her majority share of the Reds.
Schott was a donor to the university, but her long-held views were examined again in the wake of protests around the country addressing racism.
Former University of Cincinnati baseball player Jordan Ramey led the efforts to remove Schott’s name from the school, petitioning the university that “black kids should not be made to play and represent a name such as hers and white kids should not be celebrating her legacy subconsciously.”
The petition drew support from Kevin Youkilis, who played at the university before his 10-year MLB career spent with the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees.
Youkilis added he had been given the opportunity to have the field at the stadium named after him if he made a donation. But Youkilis, who is Jewish, opted not to because of Schott’s anti-Semitic past.
Schott’s name had been on the baseball stadium since 2006 after a $2 million donation to the school by the Marge and Charles Schott Foundation.
Following the announcement, the foundation said in a statement: “While we cannot make excuses for the rhetoric made by Mrs. Schott decades ago, we can ask you to learn from Mrs. Schott’s mistakes as well as her great love for Cincinnati. We appreciate what these great organizations bring to Cincinnati and we fully support the decisions made by the organizations who have received grants from the Foundation.”