As the Major League Baseball investigation into the allegations of harassment against Angels coach Mickey Callaway continues, new and even more worrying details about his behavior have emerged in an additional report by Brittany Ghiroli, Katie Strang and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Not only have other women come forward to reveal that Callaway has made unwanted advances towards them, but The Athletic report details that the husband of a woman with whom Callaway was having a consensual extramarital affair repeatedly contacted the Indians and Major League Baseball organization in 2017 on “Pornographic material” sent to his wife.
The report contains quotes from a recorded conversation between his wife and a Cleveland lawyer, indicating that the question was referred to manager Terry Francona. Athletic’s report also indicates that Cleveland baseball president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff were aware of the man’s complaint against Callaway. A league security officer involved in the exchange is also cited. The husband was also able to contact Mets in August 2018 to make the same complaint to the new Callaway organization. (That moment, mainly, would mean that his complaint was filed after Mets president Sandy Alderson left the team to undergo treatment after a cancer diagnosis.)
Ghiroli, Strang and Rosenthal conducted 22 interviews last month to collect information for the latest report, which strongly supports the idea that Callaway’s behavior goes back to his days as a minor league pitcher in the Indians system.
Also worrying are the suggestions that superiors in various organizations were willing to look the other way due to Callaway’s reputation as a strong pitching coach. A former India official said that Antonetti’s claim that there were no complaints about Callaway made to him, human resources or other organizational leaders “hit me the wrong way” due to the wide knowledge within the organization of Callaway’s behavior. Another called Callaway’s behavior “the organization’s worst-kept secret,” and both a current and former Mets employee made it clear to The Athletic that several in the organization were aware of Callaway’s behavior.
Callaway himself was contacted for a quote about the story, in which he acknowledged several “infidelities”, but called many of the reports about his actions “inaccurate” and rebutted the idea that he always “[used] his position to harass or pressure a woman. “
Athletic’s report must be read in its entirety to understand not only the alarming and inappropriate nature of Callaway’s alleged behavior, but also the growing number of worrying indications that many around him were, to varying degrees, aware of the problem.