New York, NY, January 31, 2003 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today praised Major League Baseball (MLB) for its "appropriate and swift" decision to suspend a senior umpire for hurling an anti-Semitic epithet at an MLB administrator. The umpire, Bruce Froemming, was suspended for 10 days and pulled from officiating at baseball's opening games in Japan after Major League officials disclosed that he had referred to a female administrator as a "stupid Jew bitch" in a recorded phone message.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We commend Major League Baseball for its swift and appropriate decision to suspend Bruce Froemming for hurling an anti-Semitic epithet. Such language is unacceptable, whether uttered in the workplace or on the playing field. There is no place in baseball, or society, for this kind of comment.

We hope that through his suspension Mr. Froemming will come to understand the hurt he has caused, not just to the individual, but to every person who has felt the pain of a racial or ethnic slur. The injury is worse when such hateful words come from celebrities, sports stars, and others who are looked up to as role models and whose voices have a strong influence on the larger society.

Major League Baseball, with players of many backgrounds, is in many ways a celebration of our nation's diversity. America's Pastime should not be marred by hateful ethnic slurs.

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.