For the first time in eight months, Marge Schott can walk through the Cincinnati Reds’ front door, get buzzed in by the receptionist, turn right and enter an office marked with two nameplates.
“Mrs. Schott,” the first says. “Schottzie 02” says another beneath it.
Inside is a room that looks more like a toy store than a baseball owner’s office. There are stuffed animals and trinkets everywhere and tributes to her notorious St. Bernard.
Schott wasn’t allowed to set foot in there during her suspension for using racial slurs. With the punishment lifted Monday, she can go back to being the team’s day-to-day chief executive.
“Her office literally has been locked,” said General Manager Jim Bowden, who has run the team in her absence. “No one has been in there since she departed. We’re going to open it up (before her return) to air it out and clean it up and get the cobwebs out.”
Bowden says he’ll be glad the office is in use again.
“It’s been a very difficult year,” he said.
Schott got the suspension shortened from a year to eight months because she attended diversity training. Will she treat people differently?
“I’m sure that she’ll be more careful than she’s been in the past,” said Sharon Jones, a former Oakland A’s executive assistant who claims she heard Schott use the word “nigger” during a conference call.
