Smulyan Promises Black President for Nats

Indianapolis media executive Jeffrey Smulyan said yesterday that he will name an African American as president of the Washington Nationals if Major League Baseball picks his investor group to own the team.

"It had been something we have talked about many months ago and since it was out there, I am willing to confirm it," Smulyan said.

If Smulyan gets the team and appoints an African American as president, it would appear to be only the second time that has happened. The first African American president of a Major League Baseball team was Ulice Payne Jr., who left the presidency of the Milwaukee Brewers in November 2003 after 14 months in the job.

A source in the Smulyan group said a leading candidate to be its team president is former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Eric H. Holder Jr., who is an investor in the Smulyan group.

Holder declined to comment yesterday.

The disclosure from the Smulyan group comes as Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig and MLB President Robert DuPuy prepare to meet this week with representatives of two groups who are considered to be front-runners to buy the team: the family of Bethesda-based real estate developer Theodore Lerner, and a group led by Washington business executives Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients.

The location and timing of the meetings were not known yesterday. A league source said the purpose was for MLB to get better acquainted with new members of the local groups.

MLB has been focusing its attention in recent weeks on the Lerners and on Malek-Zients, although Selig and DuPuy have officially said that all eight groups bidding are still in the hunt for the franchise. Former Atlanta Braves president Stan Kasten in the last several days struck an agreement to join the Lerner bid, adding someone with extensive experience at running a baseball team, which is something the family lacked.

One baseball official familiar with the sale process last week characterized it as a three-way race between the Lerners, Malek-Zients and Smulyan. MLB.com, the league's Web site, last week reported that the choice was down to the Lerners and Malek-Zients.

The Lerners have added several prominent African Americans from the Washington community to their group in recent weeks as MLB and District politicians pressed them to add investors that better reflect the diversity of the Washington community. The city is building the Nationals a $611 million stadium project along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, slated to open in 2008.

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, BET executive Paxton Baker and Washington banker B. Doyle Mitchell Jr. are among the members of the Lerner group. The Malek-Zients syndicate has also disclosed in recent weeks the addition of several prominent Washington African Americans, including Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert, Verizon Washington D.C. President Anthony A. Lewis and local business executive George Haywood.

DuPuy told a Congressional committee on April 7 that he expected Selig to name an owner in the next two weeks. The league, which bought the team, then known as the Montreal Expos, from Jeffrey Loria for $120 million in February 2002, has set a price of $450 million.