KICKING BOW’ OUT
MLBAM prez got boot for inappropriate work conduct: report
When Major League Baseball announced on Nov. 6 that the president of its highly successful and hugely profitable business and media arm, Bob Bowman, was stepping down from his post after 17 years, there was no indication of any malfeasance in Bowman’s decision to move on from baseball.
But a bombshell Wall Street Journal report published Thursday reveals that Bowman was “forced out” of his position of power after multiple alleged incidents in which he demonstrated inappropriate work conduct, including “allegedly conducting consensual relationships with subordinate coworkers and cultivating a culture of partying and heavy drinking with employees outside the office.”
Bowman, who helped generate billions of dollars in revenue by ushering the sport into the digital media business through MLB Advanced Media, verbally abused a coworker in October, the Wall Street Journal report said, and that alleged incident was the final straw that sparked baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to terminate Bowman. The WSJ report also said in July, at the All-Star Game in Miami, Bowman shoved an executive with the Red Sox ownership group.
“I would say that (the October) incident was the culmination of a variety of issues that had gone on over a period of time, and it precipitated a conversation in which Bob and I agreed that the best thing for him to do was to leave,” Manfred told the Wall Street Journal.
In the Nov. 6 MLB release about Bowman, Manfred said in a statement that he understood “Bob’s desire to step away and respect his decision. Like the owners of our 30 clubs, I am grateful for the groundbreaking work that he and his team have performed for our sport.”
The WSJ report, however, paints a workplace environment under Bowman that was both toxic and in which he instilled fear.
“He would be a holy terror some days,” a person familiar with Bowman told the WSJ. “He would just talk down to people. He was often yelling. Just disrespectful.”
Bowman started working for baseball in 2000, and he led MLB Advanced Media (BAM) to billion-dollar profits. In August, Walt Disney bought a majority stake in BAMTech, the digital spinoff of MLB Advanced Media, for $2.58 billion total. But while Bowman was instrumental in building a hugely successful operation during his 17-year tenure with baseball, behind the scenes was a different story. The WSJ report said that Bowman’s alleged inappropriate behavior stretched back years, and includes “propositioning female colleagues.” Former MLB president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy, according to the WSJ report, had been told by BAM employees about Bowman’s conduct “at least 10 years ago” and DuPuy in turn told former commissioner Bud Selig. “Bud had no interest in dealing with it,” a former high-ranking baseball official told the WSJ. DuPuy could not be reached. MLB declined comment on the WSJ report. Rich Levin, a Selig spokesman, did not return an email from the Daily News. During a July 2016 party hosted by MLB Advanced Media during All-Star week in San Diego, women were allegedly hired to entertain party attendees, the WSJ report said. Two attendees told the WSJ that the women were “widely believed” to be escorts.
“Some of them were heard encouraging attendees to leave to have sex quickly so that they could return to solicit another attendee before the party was over,” the WSJ story said, according to a person at the party. Manfred, according to the WSJ report, said he had no knowledge of the alleged escorts. Manfred told the paper, however, that after the 2016 party in San Diego, Manfred adopted a policy in which MLB Advanced Media wouldn’t play host to any type of similar event “independent of the league office.” The WSJ report also said that MLB Advanced Media had its own human resources department during Bowman’s tenure.
The claims about Bowman come amid the current national conversation that is dominated by the #metoo movement and accusations of sexual misconduct against bold-face names in entertainment, politics and business.
“The culture that started at BAM was hard working and driven. At times, it was also inappropriate and I take full responsibility,” Bowman said in a statement to the WSJ. “This inappropriate behavior reflects my personal flaws and not someone else’s. This behavior and my personal behavior were wrong. To those who felt the sting of my behavior, I am truly sorry. To my family, friends and business colleagues who have been steadfastly supportive of me, and whom I have embarrassed, I apologize.”