PHOENIX -- It was impossible to tell at the time, but De Jon Watson shed a tear or two minutes before the press conference to introduce him as the Arizona Diamondbacks' vice president of baseball operations. A congratulatory call from Don Newcombe was all it took.
"Don told me to stay true to my beliefs in the game, what I've learned," Watson said afterward. "What got me teared up is that he told me how proud he was of me and what I've accomplished . . . "
Watson paused and looked away before continuing.
". . . It meant a lot to me, because here was a guy who was part of the initial ground-breaking of the barriers of baseball. And to have this opportunity to come here with 'Stew' and Tony, with these guys having the faith in me that we are going to be able to come back restore this organization to where it was before. We are looking forward to this challenge."
Right-hander Newcombe joined the forward-thinking Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949, two years after the Dodgers' Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues.
Sixty-five years later, Watson and new D-backs vice president/general manager Dave Stewart have taken it to the next level, literally and figuratively. The D-backs are the first team in baseball history to have two blacks at the highest level of the executive ladder, both operating directly under chief baseball officer Tony La Russa. That the appointments came through merit was never in question. At the same time, D-backs president/CEO Derrick Hall also believed the step forward was long overdue.
"It is something that is important to me," said Hall, who has served on outgoing commissioner Bud Selig's diversity task force. "I think it sends a very strong message. We hired who we think are two of the brighter minds that can help us. The fact that they are both minorities is just an added pleasure to me. Hopefully others can follow suit."
The moves also continue the Branch Rickey/Dodgers legacy, of which almost all parties are steeped. Watson joined the D-backs after spending the last eight seasons in the Dodgers' organization, most recently as the vice president of player development. All-Star right-hander Stewart was signed by the Dodgers in the 16th round of the 1975 draft out of St. Elizabeth High in Oakland, and he did his best work with La Russa and the Oakland Bash Brothers teams a decade later. Hall spent 12 seasons with the Dodgers before joining in the D-backs in 2005.
La Russa, hired in May to the newly created position of chief baseball officer, said he was not thinking in broad terms when he recommended Stewart and Watson as the cornerstones of his front office team.
"I'm aware of it," La Russa said of the historical significance. "My goal . . . there could have been zero, there could have been one. It turned out to be two. They both impressed, and they fit the team we are putting together. It just speaks to their individual quality. You have black coaches in all sports, black managers.
"It's the man and the expertise. You're foolish if you don't understand already."
It has taken baseball some time. Atlanta's Bill Lucas served as the first black general manager, hired in 1976, although his title was director of player personnel. Bob Watson was the general manager of the Houston Astros from 1993-1995 and the New York Yankees from 1995-98 before joining the commissioner's office. Kenny Williams was the Chicago White Sox's general manager from 2000-12 before becoming executive vice president in October, 2012, where he continues to exercise final say on major baseball decisions.
After retiring from baseball in 1995 at age 38, Stewart worked as a special assistant to the general manager in Oakland and San Diego and served as a pitching coach in San Diego, Toronto and Milwaukee. He was the Blue Jays' assistant general manager in 1998-2001 but resigned from the organization when J.P. Ricciardi was hired to replace Gord Ash as general manager.
"They think the only people capable of doing these jobs are white people, not minorities," Stewart said of the Blue Jays' decision-making process at the time.
A year after leaving the Jays, Stewart founded a sports agency, Sports Management Partners in 2002, and developed a client base that includes Matt Kemp and Chris Carter. Stewart has left former A's teammate Dave Henderson in charge of the agency, since major league rules prevent him from staying involved.
Stewart, who received texts of congratulations from two-thirds of the sitting general managers when he was hired, was asked if he and De Jon Watson should be considered pioneers.
"What Tony has done is very unique, to have two upper-level executives that are making decisions for the well-being of this team. I guess you would call Tony a pioneer of some sort," Stewart said.
"The way I look at it is, I'm happy and I'm honored and very, very proud to have this job, and I'm going to do the job the best I know how. Use every bit of experience, every bit of knowledge. I'm going to use every resource that I have to make sure that the moves that I make for our major league club and this organization are going to be done with the utmost of knowledge and research."
Stewart also was asked if the D-backs' moves were a sign of progress.
"A sign of progress . . . that's a strange way to put it," he said. "The only reason I say that is because this industry has a lot of presidents of the clubs who are selecting the general managers. In my opinion, everybody looks for something. They have a criteria. They have something that they are looking for in the candidates that they picked.
"What I'll say is, let's see what baseball does. I've been around a long time. They take steps forward and those steps that they take forward, it finds a way to just stay that way. So De Jon and I could be the last of this. Or we could be the beginning of it."
The last?
"I hope not," Stewart said.
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