Today in sports history

On this date 15 years ago, Cincinnati Reds owner Margaret Underwear Schott (OK, her maiden name was Unnewehr, but you've got to admit, it's pretty close) was fined $25,000 and banned from running the team for the '93 season because of racist remarks and actions that had come to light in the previous few months. Among the allegations against Marge were:

* She called Eric Davis and Dave Parker "million-dollar n-s."
* She fired team controller Tim Sabo because he opposed her unwritten policy of not hiring blacks for the front office.
* She once said "I would never hire another n-. I'd rather have a trained monkey working for me than a n-."
* She kept an old Nazi swastika armband at her home.

In an attempt to defend herself publicly in November 1992, Schott dug herself a deeper hole. She admitted to saying "million-dollar n-s," but said it was meant in jest. Apparently in defense of having a Nazi armband, she said Hitler was initially good for Germany, and added that she couldn't understand how anyone could find the word "Jap" offensive.

Schott would go on to put her foot in her mouth several more times over the next few years, showing insensitivity when umpire John McSherry collapsed and died during the Reds' home opener in 1996, and later making more pro-Hitler comments. It's absolutely unbelievable that she didn't learn from her previous hubbub.

She sold the Reds in 1999, and died in 2004.