Astro Owner Denies Comments

Drayton McLane, owner of the Houston Astros, cut short his vacation to deny telling two TV executives that his team doesn’t market to Hispanics because baseball is too complex for them to understand.

Marco Camacho, vice president and general manager of KTMD-TV, and KTMD sales manager Rod Rodriguez said McLane made derogatory remarks about Hispanics before a dinner honoring him with the Houston Advertising Federation’s Trailblazer Award for community service.

“We asked him why he doesn’t market toward Hispanics,� Camacho said. “He said it was hard to reach Hispanics because the game of baseball is strategy and skill and it’s complicated and that’s why more Hispanics don’t go to Astros games. He said if you gave them a basketball and told them to put the ball through the hoop, they can do that.�

Camacho added that McLane said baseball is a game of statistics and numbers “and people like to follow baseball in the newspapers and Hispanics don’t read newspapers and when Hispanics do go, they buy the cheap $2 seats.�

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Saying the New York Mets could “ship me to Alaska� if they wanted to get rid of him, Bobby Bonilla reacted angrily to a report the team had put him and fellow outfielder Brian McRae on waivers.

“Do I want to stay here? Ask me if I care,� Bonilla said before the opener of a three-game interleague series against the New York Yankees. “They can ship me to Alaska if they want. They can send me home tomorrow if they like. I’ll watch the boys play from my house. I might even buy a season ticket.�