dissenting:
Harold Glass, who was employed for many years by the Philadelphia Electric Company (“PECO”), sued his former employer for allegedly discriminating against him based on race and age and for allegedly retaliating against him because of his pursuit of other discrimination claims.1 His case was tried before a jury, and the jury was requested to answer special interrogatories that asked whether PECO had discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of race or age or had illegally retaliated against him when it failed to promote him to a variety of positions that were filled in the late 1980’s. The jury found no such discrimination or retaliation, and the court entered judgment for PECO.
On appeal, the plaintiff contended, among other things, that the district court abused its discretion under Fed.R.Evid. 403 by excluding evidence that he had been subjected to a racially hostile environment when he worked at PECO’s Eddystone Generating Station in the mid-1980’s. The plaintiff argued that this evidence was relevant to show that PECO’s asserted reasons for denying the promotions were pretextual and that this evidence should not have been excluded under Rule 403. See Appellant’s Br. at 17-26. The majority agrees with the plaintiffs argument and therefore reverses the judgment of the district court and remands for a new trial. In doing so, the majority makes little effort to explain why the excluded evidence had probative value or to address the factors weighing against exclusion. In my view, when both sides of the Rule 403 balance are carefully considered and the proper standard of appellate review is applied, the district court’s rulings under Fed.R.Evid. 403 must be sustained. Moreover, even if those rulings were incorrect, they were harmless with respect to several of the positions at issue. For these reasons, I dissent.
I.
Before addressing the merits of the district court’s evidentiary rulings, I will briefly supplement the procedural history set out in the majority opinion. Prior to trial, PECO filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude the plaintiff from introducing evidence of discriminatory acts that allegedly occurred before “the statutory period covered by the charge [Glass] filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission....” Defendant’s Motion In Limine at 1. PECO argued that this evidence was not relevant under Fed.R.Evid. 401 and that it should in any event be excluded under Fed.R.Evid. 403. PECO stated:
[E]ven if this Court were to conclude that some or all of this evidence might be marginally relevant and otherwise admissible, if it is introduced, the Court will be forced to preside over — and defendants will be forced to defend against — numerous collateral matters to be tried within the main trial. These mini-trials would concern actions by decision-makers who were not involved at all in any of the action in the fall and winter of 1989 that Glass is challenging in this case. In many instances, they would concern events which occurred many years before the events actually in controversy here. Furthermore, by admitting this evidence, the jury will hear an overabundance of tangential, collateral and irrelevant issues which will undoubtedly confuse its consideration of the true issues in this case. There would be at least several extra days of trial time and ultimately, should this evidence be admitted, defendant will be unfairly prejudiced in its defense.
Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant’s Motion In Limine at 4-5. See also id. at 15-16.
The plaintiff then filed a lengthy memorandum in opposition to this motion. In this memorandum, the plaintiff stated that he “propose[d] to introduce evidence of his employment history, including his activities as an employee representative, to prove he was qualified for the positions he now claims he was denied because of his age and race.” App. 3-4. After describing the plaintiffs *197work as an officer of the Black Grievance Committee, the memorandum stated:
[T]he story of Mr. Glass’ activism directly supports his contention that he was qualified for the jobs he was denied, and that despite these qualifications, he was rejected for pretextual reasons....
In short, Mr. Glass’ pre-1989 evidence is relevant for the purpose of showing that he was particularly qualified for the 1989-1990 positions, and that this entire history of activism in employee and labor relations is consistent with a promotion into one of them.
App. 9-10. The memo also stated:
[I]t is important to note what Plaintiff does not intend with regard to pre-1989 evidence. Plaintiff Glass does not intend to make actionable any of Defendant’s promotional decisions which predate the limitations period in this action. Nor does Plaintiff intend to prove the existence of a pattern or practice of discrimination....
App. 8-9. Not once in this memo did the plaintiff state that he proposed to introduce evidence that he was subjected to racial harassment or a racially hostile work environment during the period when he worked at PECO’s Eddystone station (from 1984 to 1986) or at any other time.2
PECO next filed a reply memorandum. PECO argued that the plaintiffs pre-1989 experience representing other employees was not relevant with respect to several of the positions to which he claimed he should have been promoted. However, with respect to some other positions — the position of Affirmative Action Staff Assistant and three positions as a Labor Relations Representative— PECO offered “to stipulate that plaintiffs activities on behalf of other employees provided him with the experience to meet certain criteria set forth in the job requisitions” for those positions. Reply Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant’s Motion In Limine at 7.
The plaintiff then filed a surreply objecting to the proposed stipulation because it would deprive him of “the opportunity to present the depth and texture of those qualifications to a jury.” App. 16. This surreply, like the plaintiffs prior memorandum, made absolutely no mention of racial harassment or a racially hostile atmosphere at Eddystone or anywhere else.
After receiving these submissions, the district court, a few days before trial, entered an order granting PECO’s motion. Because the district court did not explain the basis for its ruling, it is unclear whether the court held that the evidence of pre-1989 events was not relevant or whether the court concluded that the evidence should be excluded under Rule 403. In any event, however, I do not think that the plaintiff can attack this ruling on the ground that it improperly precluded him from proving that he had been subjected to racial harassment at Eddystone prior to 1989. Having explained to the district court precisely what evidence of pre-1989 events he wanted to introduce and precisely why he wanted to introduce that evidence, and having said nothing about evidence of racial harassment or a racially hostile atmosphere at Eddystone or anywhere else, the plaintiff cannot, in my view, argue that the district court erred in failing to admit such evidence. See Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)(2); Northeast Women’s Center, Inc. v. McMonagle, 868 F.2d 1342, 1352-53 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 901, 110 S.Ct. 261, 107 L.Ed.2d 210 (1989).
When the trial began two days after the district court’s order granting the motion in limine had been entered and sent to the parties, the plaintiffs counsel made an oral offer of proof, and the following colloquy occurred:
MS. BALLARD [plaintiffs counsel]: If permitted, I would also offer evidence of the environment Mr. Glass encountered at Eddystone Station when he went there as a junior technical assistant in 1984 to show why he had difficulty performing there, to show that he was the victim of a discriminatory and harassing environment there. And I understand your Judge’s ruling of two — Your Honor’s ruling of two days ago to say that I should stay away from that as well.
*198THE COURT: That’s correct.
MS. BALLARD: All right. And that would include the pictures that were placed on the wall that ...
THE COURT: Right.
MS. BALLARD: ... degraded Mr. Glass’ personality.
THE COURT: Right. All these rulings are made without prejudice to your renewing them if at a later time it turns out from the testimony that it might be appropriate to bring that in. But on your case in chief, I’ve ruled that it’s not admissible, at this time.
App. 66-67.
While this oral offer of proof, unlike the plaintiffs prior memoranda, referred to evidence of racial harassment at Eddystone, plaintiffs counsel still did not explain how proof of this harassment, apparently by coworkers,3 was relevant to prove that PECO officials had discriminated or retaliated against the plaintiff when they denied him certain promotions years later. In particular, plaintiffs counsel did not claim that this evidence was relevant to show that PECO’s reasons for denying the plaintiff these promotions were pretextual. Thus, if I had been the trial judge, I am not sure that I would have grasped, based on the plaintiffs prior memoranda and this short exchange, that the plaintiff was proposing to prove the harassment at Eddystone for the purpose of showing pretext. But even if it is assumed that the plaintiffs oral offer of proof was sufficient to convey this point, the fact remains that the trial judge did not categorically bar proof of the events at Eddystone. On the contrary, the judge expressly stated that his rulings on the motion in limine were “made without prejudice to the [the plaintiffs] renewing them if at a later time it turn[ed] out from the testimony that it might be appropriate to bring that in.” App. 67. Accordingly, I do not think that the cases cited by the majority concerning “ ‘blanket evidentiary exclusions’ ” (see Maj. at 195 (quoting Estes v. Dick Smith Ford, Inc., 856 F.2d 1097, 1103 (8th Cir.1988)) are at all pertinent.4 Instead, I think that it was incumbent on the plaintiff to renew his request to admit evidence concerning events at Eddystone as the trial developed. The plaintiff did so; the district court then ruled; and it is these specific rulings, in my view, that we must review.
The exchanges that led to these specific rulings are quoted in the opinion of the court (see Maj. at 193-94), and therefore I will not repeat them here. I will, however, note two salient features of these exchanges. First, at no point did the plaintiffs attorney refer to the concept of “pretext” or provide a clear explanation of the relevance of the Eddy-stone evidence. Second, at no point did the trial judge refer to Rule 403 or provide a clear explanation of the basis of his rulings excluding the evidence in question. Faced with this ambiguous record, I think it is appropriate to give both sides the benefit of the doubt. Consequently, I construe the remarks of plaintiffs counsel as having preserved the argument that the Eddystone evidence was relevant to show pretext, and (like counsel for both parties5) I construe the district court’s ruling as having been based on an implicit balancing pursuant to Rule 403. See United States v. Eufrasio, 935 F.2d 553, 572 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 340, 116 L.Ed.2d 280 (1991). In this regard, I note that the district court did say that it did not want to “relitigate the Eddystone matter” (App. 358), and I interpret this reference as essentially accepting PECO’s argument in favor of exclusion under Rule 403. If this interpretation of the district court’s reasoning is too generous, it is no more generous than my reading of the plaintiffs explanation of the relevance of the Eddystone evidence. Thus, based on these *199interpretations of the record, it seems to me that the issue before us is the following: did the district court commit reversible error in concluding that the Eddystone evidence’s probative value for the purpose of proving pretext was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay and waste of time? See Fed.R.Evid. 403. I therefore turn to this question.
II.
According to our precedents, “[a] trial judge is given Very substantial discretion’ when striking a Rule 403 balance.” Eufrasio, 935 F.2d at 572. A trial judge’s ruling under Rule 403 may be reversed only if the judge committed an abuse of discretion. Id. Indeed, we have held that “a trial judge’s decision to admit or exclude evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 403 may not be reversed unless it is ‘arbitrary and irrational.’” Bhaya v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 922 F.2d 184, 187 (3d Cir.1990), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1217, 111 S.Ct. 2827, 115 L.Ed.2d 997 (1991), (quoting United States v. DePeri, 778 F.2d 963, 973-74 (3d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1110, 106 S.Ct. 1518, 89 L.Ed.2d 916 and 476 U.S. 1159, 106 S.Ct. 2277, 90 L.Ed.2d 720 (1986)); see also United States v. Friedland, 660 F.2d 919, 929 (3d Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 989, 102 S.Ct. 2268, 73 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1982); United States v. Long, 574 F.2d 761, 767 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 985, 99 S.Ct. 577, 58 L.Ed.2d 657 (1978). We have also observed:
If judicial self-restraint is ever desirable, it is when a Rule 403 analysis of a trial court is reviewed by an appellate tribunal.
United States v. Long, 574 F.2d at 767; see also Eufrasio, 935 F.2d at 572. As the Seventh Circuit aptly wrote in a case quite similar to this one:
The balancing of probative value and prejudicial effect, like other comparisons of intangibles, requires an exercise of judgment rather than a computation. Only in an extreme case are appellate judges competent to second-guess the judgment of the person on the spot, the trial judge.
Sims v. Mulcahy, 902 F.2d 524, 531 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 897, 111 S.Ct. 249, 112 L.Ed.2d 207 (1990) (citation omitted).
Applying an abuse-of-discretion standard, I think that the trial judge’s ruling in this case must be sustained. I recognize that evidence that the plaintiff was subjected to racial harassment or a racially hostile atmosphere at Eddystone has some probative value for the purpose of showing that PECO’s reliance on plaintiffs poor evaluation while at Eddystone was pretextual. If the plaintiff was harassed at Eddystone, that harassment might have caused or contributed to his poor performance rating. Thus, evidence of harassment at Eddystone is relevant to show that the plaintiffs performance rating for that period was inaccurate. The plaintiffs poor rating at Eddystone was cited as a reason for PECO’s denial of the plaintiffs requests for promotion to positions as a Labor Relations Specialist and to an engineering position. If the officials who made the decisions concerning these promotions knew or believed that the Eddystone evaluation had been affected by the harassment and was therefore inaccurate, that would tend to show that their reliance on this rating was pretex-tual. Consequently, proof of the plaintiffs harassment at Eddystone could form part of a chain of reasoning leading to the inference that the PECO decisionmakers discriminated or retaliated against the plaintiff.
But while the evidence of harassment at Eddystone that the plaintiff was precluded from introducing thus has some probative value, its probative value is limited. First, with respect to the positions as a Labor Relations Representative, PECO did not rely heavily on the plaintiffs performance at Ed-dystone as an explanation for its decisions. The official responsible for filling these positions, James Lange, listed numerous other reasons why he did not choose the plaintiff. Among other things, Lange mentioned: his belief that the plaintiff was unable “to function as a change agent” and was “wedded to the past way of doing things” (9/25/92 Tr. at 154-56); his concern about the plaintiffs “ability to be objective in the area of labor relations” (id. at 163); his view that the plaintiff was not a “team player” (id. at 163-64); PECO’s policy of giving preference to candidates from within the same department (9/29/92 Tr. at 109); the plaintiffs failure to meet educational requirements (id. at 113); *200and concerns about the plaintiff related to “issues like credibility, confidentiality, [and] trustworthiness.” Id. at 168. Moreover, while Lange stated that he had initially been concerned about the plaintiffs performance at Eddystone, he added that, when he heard the plaintiffs explanation of the reason for his poor rating during that period, this explanation “helped alleviate some of the concerns.” 9/25/92 Tr. at 158. Second, the plaintiff was able to bring out some evidence of harassment at Eddystone. His attorney elicited testimony that the plaintiff had told Lange that he had been a “victim of harassment” and had “experience[d] problems.” Id. at 158-59. Third, it seems to me that the probative value of evidence of harassment at Eddystone was substantially undermined by the plaintiffs unwillingness to argue that the PECO decisionmakers who were responsible for denying him the promotions at issue believed that the Eddystone evaluation was inaccurate. As I previously explained, it appears to me that evidence of harassment at Eddystone is relevant primarily, if not exclusively, as part of a chain of reasoning that includes, as one link in the chain, the conclusion that PECO officials cited the Eddystone evaluation as a reason for their decisions even though they did not actually believe that this evaluation was an accurate reflection of the plaintiffs abilities. Plaintiffs counsel has argued strenuously, however, that she did not want to prove that the PECO decisionmakers lied when they gave their reasons for not promoting the plaintiff.6 Instead, the plaintiffs theory was that these officials were guilty of “unconscious forms of pretext.”7 Putting aside the question of whether, as a matter of law, a plaintiff in a disparate treatment case may prevail based on evidence of “unconscious” discrimination,8 it seems to me that the plaintiffs reliance on this unconventional theory substantially diminished the probative value of the evidence of harassment at Eddystone.
On the other side of the Rule 403 balance, I think that there is substance to PECO’s contention that permitting proof of the alleged discrimination at Eddystone might have led to a mini-trial and caused substantial unfair prejudice. As PECO put it in its brief:
Had Glass been permitted to prove the events which he contends influenced his performance evaluations at Eddystone, PECO would have been entitled to offer proof (1) that the events did not occur as Glass contended; and (2) that his performance evaluation would have been negative whether or not such events occurred. The results would have been trials on two collateral issues — a trial on the occurrence vel non of incidents of harassment, and a trial concerning the effect, if any, of such events on Glass’s performance during 1984 and 1985. Together, these two trials-within-a-trial would have been equal in scope and complexity to the trial that was actually held.
Appellee’s Br. at 14 (footnotes omitted). Even if PECO’s estimate of the length and complexity of this “minitrial” is exaggerated, I still think that these considerations were legitimate and weighed appreciably in favor of exclusion. Furthermore, introduction of evidence of harassment at Eddystone might well have led the jury to believe that these events were part of a pattern of discrimination by PECO and, since even the plaintiff did not advance such a claim (see supra, at 4), the introduction of this evidence had a potential for causing PECO unfair prejudice.
In short, there are clearly factors on both sides of the Rule 403 balance, and reasonable minds can differ as to whether that balance tilts in favor of admission or exclusion of the Eddystone evidence. My colleagues obviously believe that the balance tilts in favor of admission. Our function, however, is not to balance the Rule 403 factors ourselves. Rather, we are supposed to afford substantial deference to the balance struck by the trial judge and, if that is done, his rulings in this case must be sustained. His rulings did not *201constitute abuses of his discretion. They most certainly were not arbitrary or irrational. Bhaya, 922 F.2d at 187. And this case is surely not one of those “extreme case[s]” in which appellate judges may properly “second-guess the judgment” of the trial judge. Sims, 902 F.2d at 531.9
Moreover, even if the trial judge’s rulings constituted abuses of his discretion, those rulings were harmless with respect to the positions as Labor Relations Representative. As noted (see pages 199-200 supra), Lange, in discussing those positions, provided a long list of other reasons for not selecting Glass, and Lange stated in effect that he did not rely heavily on Glass’s performance at Eddy-stone. Thus, even if Glass had succeeded in showing that Lange’s relatively minor reliance on the Eddystone evaluation was pre-textual, it is “highly probable” that the jury’s verdict concerning the positions as Labor Relations Representative would not have been affected. See Lippay v. Christos, 996 F.2d 1490, 1500 (3d Cir.1993); McQueeney v. Wilmington Trust Co., 779 F.2d 916, 924 (3d Cir.1985). Accordingly, any erroneous evidentiary rulings made by the district court were harmless with respect to those positions.
For these reasons, I dissent.
Before: BECKER, STAPLETON, MANSMANN, GREENBERG, HUTCHINSON, SCIRICA, COWEN, NYGAARD, ALITO, ROTH, LEWIS, and MCKEE, Circuit Judges.
. He asserted claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 623; 42 U.S.C. § 1981; and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 43 P.S. § 951 et seq.
. Nor was harassment or a racially hostile environment at Eddystone mentioned in the plaintiff's affidavit in opposition to the motion in limine.
. See App. 405-06.
. The two cases discussed by the majority — Estes and Hawkins v. Hennepin Technical Center, 900 F.2d 153, 155 (8th Cir.) cert. denied, 498 U.S. 854, 111 S.Ct. 150, 112 L.Ed.2d 116 (1990), — are readily distinguishable from the current case on at least two important grounds. First, those cases concern pretrial orders categorically prohibiting the admission of certain evidence, whereas in this case the trial judge expressly stated that his pretrial order was made without prejudice to the plaintiff's attempt to admit the evidence at a later point. Second, in Estes and Hawkins, unlike this case, introduction of the evidence in question was sought for the purpose of proving a pattern of discrimination.
. See Appellant's Br. at 15; oral argument Tr. at 17.
. "[M]endacity,” she stated, "was not in my proof. I think that the defense witnesses in this case were telling the truth when they [gave the reasons for their decisions].” Oral Argument Tr. at 12.
. Id. at 53.
. Compare International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854-55 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), with David Benjamin Oppenheimer, Negligent Discrimination, 141 U.Pa.L.Rev. 899 (1993).
. In addition to concluding that the district court abused its discretion under Fed.R.Evid. 403, the majority states that the district court’s rulings were erroneous for an additional reason, viz., because they improperly limited the scope of cross-examination under Fed.R.Evid. 611(b). Maj. at 193-94. This analysis is flawed, in my view, because the district court did not rely on Rule 611(b) in excluding the evidence at issue and because Rule 611(b) does not prevent a trial judge from excluding evidence under Rule 403 during cross-examination. See United States v. Beechum, 582 F.2d 898, 907 (5th Cir.1978).