More women have come forward to say that former Mets manager and current Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway “made them uncomfortable by sending them inappropriate messages and/or photos, making unwanted advances and more while they worked for the Indians,” according to a new wide-ranging report in The Athletic.
The Athletic interviewed 22 people who interacted with Callaway during his time with the Cleveland Indians, with one saying Callaway’s behavior was “the worst-kept secret in the organization.”
Callaway was suspended by the Angels on Feb. 2 after the initial report in The Athletic detailed accusations of his aggressive pursuits of five women in sports media, both in person and over text/email.
Per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, Callaway “denied any wrongdoing,” which protected him from being fired without an investigation, which is still ongoing.
In Tuesday’s story in The Athletic, it is reported that on Aug. 8, 2018, Mets interns “tasked with reviewing the emails that filter in through the team’s community outreach account” flagged one from the husband of an Arizona woman who said Callaway had sent his wife — whom Callaway reportedly had a consensual affair with — “unsolicited pornographic material.”
Per The Athletic, Mets general counsel David Cohen addressed the issue while Sandy Alderson was on leave, with the Mets confronting Callaway about it.
“To us, that wasn’t an on-field indiscretion that had to do with the team. Bad choice on his part. But that’s his personal life. Don’t let it affect the team,” a source told The Athletic about the Mets’ “general feeling on the matter.”
In February, the Mets told The Athletic that in August of 2018 they learned of an incident that took place before hiring him. A spokesperson said that the team investigated that matter, but didn’t reveal the nature of the incident, or the outcome of the investigation. Callaway managed the rest of that season.
Speaking on Monday, Alderson addressed the hiring practices that led to Callaway getting the job as Mets manager, and also spoke about protocols the Mets have changed in the wake of the firings of Jared Porter and Ryan Ellis.
“I think especially in retrospect, there probably should’ve been a broader assessment of his qualifications,” Alderson said about Callaway. “In terms of people we actually talked to, there were no reservations. I think the process should’ve been broader. We’ve learned that lesson and the process that we currently have is and will be broader than it was in 2018.”
On the vetting process going forward, Alderson said:
“In respect to the vetting process, we’re being more intentional about communicating with women that have had some contact, not necessarily fellow employees, but other third parties that might have come in contact.
“We’re probably taking our background checks to a somewhat higher level to the extent that we can. … We just have to be mindful of each of these cases. We have to be broader in our understanding of who these people are and what their backgrounds may be.”
Callaway spent two seasons as manager of the Mets before being fired in October of 2019. He was hired by the Angels just a few weeks later and has been with the organization since then.