CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a previous story.
Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday that it has concluded its investigation into the alleged inappropriate behavior of former Cleveland Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway. As a result of the investigation, which found that Callaway violated the league's policies, MLB has placed the 46-year-old on its ineligible list through the 2022 season.
In a statement, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said:
"My office has completed its investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Mickey Callaway. 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. 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."
The Los Angeles Angels announced on Wednesday that they have fired Callaway, who had been on leave throughout the 2021 season.
MLB's investigation into Callaway began in February after The Athletic published an article detailing allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women by Callaway during his time as the Indians' pitching coach (2013-17) and New York Mets manager (2018-19). Following the release of the article, Indians President Chris Antonetti stated that the report marked the first time he had been made aware of the allegations against his team's former pitching coach.
One month later, however, a new report from The Athletic strongly suggested that wasn't the case. The second article detailed additional allegations against Callaway during his time in Cleveland, including one in which a former team employee said that Antonetti, general manager Mike Chernoff and manager Terry Francona spoke with Callaway "after a man complained to the team that the pitching coach had sent 'pornographic material' to his wife."
Speaking to reporters following the release of the second article, both Antonetti and Francona said that they couldn't comment directly due to the ongoing investigation.
"We are fully cooperating with the investigation," Antonetti said in March. "As many of you who were on the call when the first Athletic article surfaced, I answered every question I could at that point in time until there were none left. I am hopeful that there will be a time when I can again do that. Unfortunately, today is not that day, again, due to the investigation that is ongoing."
Just minutes after MLB's decision on Callaway, Indians owner Paul Dolan released a statement confirming members of the team had spoken with investigators and that "there was no finding against the Cleveland Indians related to the Callaway matter." However, Dolan did admit the organization "did not do enough as an organization to create an environment where people felt comfortable reporting the inappropriate conduct they experienced or witnessed."
"We have contracted with an external expert with extensive experience related to workplace culture and reporting practices to help strengthen the organization," Dolan added. "We are dedicated to ensuring this work remains an ongoing organizational priority and look forward to working with them on best practices for education, training and reporting to accelerate our progress in these areas."