In October 1951, when Giles was elected president of the National League, Paul took his old mentor's job as Cincinnati general manager. The Reds were then a losing outfit with a weak farm system. Paul rebuilt the minor league department and began to scout and sign African-American and Latin American players. Cincinnati broke the baseball color line on April 17, 1954, when Nino Escalera and Chuck Harmon made their debuts. Cincinnati became the seventh of the eight National League clubs to integrate; the eighth, the Philadelphia Phillies, would insert their first black player into their lineup on April 22, 1957.