Back on February 1, five women in sports media accused Mickey Callaway (then the Los Angeles Angels’ pitching coach) of lewd behavior and unwanted advances across five years and three teams. Those accusations covered his work as a pitching coach with Cleveland and the Angels, and his work as manager of the Mets. They were reported in detail by Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic.
The day after that report, the Angels suspended Callaway pending a MLB investigation. Now, almost four months later, MLB has wrapped up that investigation. They’ve now banned Callaway through at least the 2022 season; he’ll be allowed to apply for reinstatement after that. The Angels also announced they’re parting ways with Callaway.
News from MLB: Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway placed on league’s ineligible list through at least 2022 season. Here is the original story by @KatieStrang and @Britt_Ghiroli in which five women accused him of lewd behavior. https://t.co/pW4aCIhb0Y
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 26, 2021
Rob Manfred said in statement that he "reviewed all of the available evidence" into allegations of sexual harassment against Mickey Callaway and "concluded that Mr. Callaway violated MLB’s policies." @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 26, 2021
Today the #Angels released the following statement regarding Mickey Callaway. pic.twitter.com/0ERw3bGQYi
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) May 26, 2021
And here’s that full MLB statement from Manfred, via Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com:
“Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Callaway violated MLB’s policies, and that placement on the ineligible list is warranted,” Manfred said in a statement. “We want to thank the many people who cooperated with our Department of Investigations [DOI] in their work, which spanned Mr. Callaway’s positions with three different clubs. The clubs that employed Mr. Callaway each fully cooperated with DOI, including providing emails and assisting with identifying key witnesses.
“Harassment has no place within Major League Baseball, and we are committed to providing an appropriate work environment for all those involved in our game.”
It’s maybe a little surprising it took almost four months to complete this investigation, especially with the initial reports on Callaway’s behavior so well-documented, but it seems MLB got there in the end. But Callaway was far from the only one in baseball displaying problematic behavior towards women; the Mets also fired GM Jared Porter in January just a day after hiring him following accusations of him sending more than 60 unwanted texts, some explicit, to a female reporter, and further articles from Strang and Ghiroli dove into complaints against Callaway in Cleveland that were overlooked by that front office and wider issues of harassment in the Mets’ organization. And there are undoubtedly issues elsewhere as well. Perhaps this action from MLB will get others in baseball to improve their behavior, but we’ll have to wait and see on that front.
[MLB.com; photo from Gregory J. Fisher/USA Today Sports]
