5 Women in Sports Media Say Angels' Mickey Callaway Made Lewd, Unwanted Advances

Current Los Angeles Angels pitching coach and former New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway allegedly "aggressively pursued at least five women who work in sports media" by sending them unsolicited messages, commenting on their appearances and sending inappropriate photographs.

Five women told Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic that Callaway's behavior "spanned at least five years, multiple cities and three teams."

One woman said he "thrust his crotch" near her face during an interview, while another said he offered to share information about the Mets with her if she went for drinks with him. He allegedly used email, text messages and even LinkedIn in one instance to contact the women.

A number of women, including some who said they were not approached by Callaway, said they were warned about him, with one saying, "It was the worst-kept secret in sports."

Callaway, who also coached in the Cleveland organization from 2010 to 2017, responded to the allegations via email:

"Rather than rush to respond to these general allegations of which I have just been made aware, I look forward to an opportunity to provide more specific responses. Any relationship in which I was engaged has been consensual, and my conduct was in no way intended to be disrespectful to any women involved. I am married and my wife has been made aware of these general allegations."

The Angels said, "The behavior being reported violates the Angels Organization's values and policies. We take this very seriously and will conduct a full investigation with MLB."

Cleveland released a statement saying it is "reviewing the matter internally and in consultation with Major League Baseball."

New York said it learned of an incident that took place before it hired him and investigated. However, it did not provide details on the incident or the outcome of the investigation.

He managed the Mets in 2018 and 2019.

This comes after a Jan. 18 report from Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan of ESPN detailing "explicit, unsolicited texts and images" former Mets general manager Jared Porter sent to a female reporter when he worked with the Chicago Cubs front office.

He sent 62 consecutive unanswered text messages, one of which included a photograph of a naked, erect penis. The Mets fired him the day after the report was released.

Mets President Sandy Alderson hired both Porter and Callaway.

As for Callaway, one woman said, "He would come up to me and massage my shoulders in the dugout when he thought no one was looking. For a month, he would text me asking for nude pics. I started talking to people (who were in the media) and they said this isn't an isolated thing."

Multiple women said he sent them shirtless pictures of himself, with one saying, "Two or three times a week for a month he'd send me shirtless selfies" and would then follow up by saying, "Now you send me one of you."

She said the messages continued even when she didn't reply.

The Athletic report noted a number of Los Angeles-based women said they were warned about Callaway when the Angels hired him.

New York fired him in October 2019 after it missed the playoffs in both of his years as manager.

One woman said the messages didn't stop after the Mets fired him, adding, "He was completely unrelenting."