Pitching coach Mickey Callaway was suspended by the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday after allegations of inappropriate behavior toward several women who work in sports media.
The Angels announced their decision a day after the allegations against the former New York Mets manager appeared in a report by The Athletic.
The team “will work closely with MLB to conduct a full investigation,” Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey said.
A person with knowledge of the Angels’ decision to suspend Callaway says the coach has denied wrongdoing, which means he can’t be fired for cause under California labor law without a full investigation of the allegations against him. The investigation by the Angels and Major League Baseball will begin swiftly, and could be completed this month.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because MLB isn’t making details of the investigation public.
Callaway joined the Angels in October 2019, three weeks after he was fired by the Mets following two years in charge. Before that, the former major league pitcher spent five seasons as the Cleveland Indians’ pitching coach.
The five women who spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity gave detailed accounts of multiple instances of aggressive, inappropriate acts by Callaway over five years while he was employed by three teams.
Callaway sent uninvited and sometimes unanswered messages to the women via email, text or social media and asked one to send nude photos in return, according to the report. He often commented on their appearance in a way that made them uncomfortable and on one occasion “thrust his crotch near the face of a reporter” while she interviewed him.
Another time, he told one of the women he’d share information about the Mets if she got drunk with him, the report said. More than one woman received a shirtless selfie or several from him, and one said he massaged her shoulders in the dugout when he thought nobody was watching, according to the report.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
Two of the women said they had been warned about Callaway’s behavior by fellow media members and others in baseball, The Athletic said.
The report came two weeks after ESPN detailed sexually explicit, uninvited text messages and images sent by former Mets general manager Jared Porter to a female reporter in 2016 when he was working for the Chicago Cubs in their front office. Porter was fired by the Mets the following morning, and Major League Baseball planned to investigate him.
Mets President Sandy Alderson, who hired Porter, was GM of the team when Callaway was hired.