Major League Baseball will investigate allegations of racial discrimination against the Seattle Mariners. The accusations were made public on Monday by a former member of the team.
“The MLB is aware of allegations made by a former employee against the Seattle Mariners regarding the behavior of club employees. According to our guidelines, we are investigating the allegations,” said a statement from the commissioner’s office.
The Mariners had denied the allegations Monday. They come from Lorena Martin, who previously worked for the M’s as Director of High Performance. She was released on October 10. The Mariners emphasized, however, that Martin did not make his accusations until after his release.
Martin responded to Twitter and wrote that she had “reported many discriminatory incidents involving human resources and other Mariners employees during the season”. Also on Monday, she wrote on Instagram that General Manager Jerry DiPoto, Manager Scott Servais and Director of Player Development Andy McKay had described Latin American players as “stupid” and “stupid”.
Martin also said that she decided to make the matter public, “because they fire innocent caregivers to try to do the right thing, and because of their skin color.”
In an interview with The News Tribune, Martin said she complained that some of her duties had been passed on to McKay. DiPoto is said to have said: “You know what? You’re an imaginary Latina.” And McKay is supposed to have said, “Sometimes you’re just stupid.”
Servais, on the other hand, is said to have said that there are so few Latin American managers and catchers because “they are not smart enough”. “They’re stupid.” And the reason Martin isn’t allowed to attend family meetings between employees and players is, according to Servais, “Honestly, because you’re a woman.”
This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.