Where the Cleveland Indians Went Wrong with Mickey Callaway – Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mickey Callaway situation reveals the failure of the Cleveland Indians to create an environment where women can report sexual harassment.

According to the article in The Athletic, the former Indian coach of five different women has been accused of inappropriate and crude behavior.

Not everything happened to the Indians, where Callaway was the coaching coach from 2013 to 2017. Some were with the Mets (where he passed in 2018-’19) and as the English coach (2020).

But the Indians now know that some women who received sexual texts and remarks from Callaway were reluctant to report it to the team. This is an important point.

As The Athletic story reported: “None of the women who were in conversation with Callaway during his time in Cleveland reported these interactions in any official way.

It also happened when Callaway was driving the Mets. This highlights a problem in pro-sports, where some men with the right people believe that they are God’s gift to women and that they should be treated that way.

Meanwhile, the women want to show that they are tough enough to handle the work in a men’s world. They also fear being cut off by other people in baseball if they do complain.

It can create a toxic environment that is exploited by characters like Callaway. He reckoned that the women did not want to talk.

And keep in mind that Callaway is the biggest sinner in this story.

CARE BEHAVIOR

Callaway allegedly had several affairs while he was with the Indians, who should have known of some of them. The indiscretions were ‘consensus’, at least according to what the Indians say they know.

In 2017, the husband of a woman who had a long relationship with Callaway contacted the Indians via the fans section. The team discussed the matter with President Chris Antonetti, GM Mike Chernoff and manager Terry Francona. The human relations department and legal department were involved.

Therefore, Francona said there are no attempts to disguise it.

Callaway was confronted by the team. He allegedly broke the case.

What makes the Indians look bad is that Antonetti said this at a press conference on February 4: “There have never been any complaints against Mickey in his time with us, not for me or for our department of human resources or other leaders. not.”

Antonetti spoke on charges of sexual harassment. But the team did know of at least one case that raised a complaint.

THE TENSION OF THE FIELD

It also created tension between the wives of the players who knew Callaway was married but took other women along. This man spent a lot of time and energy on women, something that reflects badly on a member of the coaching staff and his team.

The Athletic story said: “Some women shared the problems with their husbands, and the problems were passed on to at least one department head and another employee, although no formal complaint was lodged with human resources or any other department.”

Apart from that, it was a bad idea to have Francona the only member of the organization speaking today when it was clear that Callaway would be the main issue. Francona, of course, did not say much about it. As I mentioned in the press conference, it had to be handled by someone higher than the manager.

WHERE THE INDIANS WENT WRONG

The Indians were one of baseball’s model organizations in terms of how they treated their people. That’s why so many of their top executives stay with the team.

But something went wrong here.

Did the Indians ignore rumors about Callaway, even though there were no formal complaints? I do not know what the answer is. This is something the team needs to investigate and find out. Major League Baseball is also investigating Callaway.

Second question: Why were the women (mostly not attached to the team) unwilling to complain? As the Athletic reported, no one did.

Did they think Callaway was in such a favorable position with the team that their complaints would be ignored? In the future, the Indians promised to make sure that changed.

They talked to female employees to make sure they knew the team would be listening, and they set up stronger communication channels. It seems dedicated and sincere when it comes to doing what is still needed. They need to be open to change, otherwise another situation like Mickey Callaway could happen again.

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