Santangelo facing accusations of sexual misconduct
F.P. Santangelo, a former Giants and A’s infielder now in his 11th year as a Washington Nationals television broadcaster, has been pulled from the team’s broadcasts after being accused of sexual misconduct, according to multiple reports.
The 53-year-old Santangelo is facing allegations from a 31-year-old woman who told The Athletic the former major leaguer made “an unwanted advance” many years ago, and she claimed he sexually assaulted her while she repeatedly told him to stop.
The anonymous woman also repeated her claims against Santangelo in a series of social media posts, leading to the Nationals taking him off the air.
“Late last week, we were made aware of allegations of conduct by F.P. Santangelo that are inconsistent with our values as an organization,” the Nationals said in a statement released Saturday. “We alerted (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) and revoked our approval of him as a member of our broadcast team. MASN assured us that they would investigate these allegations thoroughly.
“After MASN notified us that their investigation was complete and that F.P. should be reinstated, additional posts appeared. Once again, we notified MASN and revoked our approval of F.P. as a member of our broadcast team indefinitely. Moving forward, we will refer all questions regarding this investigation to F.P.’s employer, MASN.”
Santangelo, who grew up in the Sacramento area and starred at Oak Ridge High in El Dorado Hills and Sacramento City College, sent a text message to a number of media outlets denying the woman’s accusations.
“What I have read in a recently published article from an anonymous individual about me is untrue and did not happen,” said Santangelo, who years ago served as a part-time broadcaster for the Giants. “This is not representative of who I am as a man or a professional. I am confident that my name and reputation will be fully cleared.”
MASN has forwarded the allegations to MLB for review, which is league policy, the network said in a statement.
Santangelo played seven years in the major leagues, beginning with a four-year stay with the Montreal Expos before spending one season apiece with Giants (1999), Dodgers (2000) and A’s (2001). The switch-hitting utilityman had a career-best .792 OPS with San Francisco, where he batted .260 with three home runs and 26 RBIs in 113 games. Santangelo finished his career batting .197 in 32 games with Oakland in 2001.