Terry Francona's son blasts him for 'covering up wrongdoings'

Terry Francona accused by son of ‘covering up wrongdoings’ by Mickey Callaway

Cleveland Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway watches from the dugout with manager Terry Francona.

March 2, 2021 1:47 PM PT

The son of Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona called out his father Tuesday on Twitter, accusing him of “covering up wrongdoings” by then-Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway.

Callaway has been suspended as the Angels pitching coach while the team and Major League Baseball investigate multiple allegations of sexual harassment from his time with the Angels and Indians as well as while he was manager of the New York Mets.

Those allegations became public through an article published by the Athletic last month. On Tuesday, the site ran a second article by the same writers, Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang, with new information on the Callaway scandal.

Among them was the claim that Francona, general manager Mike Chernoff and team President Chris Antonetti had been made aware of at least one scandalous allegation about Callaway — a man claimed the coach had an affair with his wife and sent her “pornographic material” — but kept the information to themselves.

Nick Francona, a former Dodgers and New York Mets executive, took to Twitter on Tuesday to accuse his father of lying to him before the Mets hired Callaway as manager and failing “to understand what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t.”

Nick Francona said he confronted his father and others in the Indians organization after the first article appeared on the Athletic.

“I wanted to know why they didn’t say anything to me when the Mets hired Mickey Callaway and they gave him a strong endorsement,” Nick Francona said. “My father lied to me and said he didn’t know.

“I confronted my father again this morning and it is clear that he simply doesn’t get it.”

He added: “I have always tried to stand up for what I felt was right, even when it isn’t easy. In this case, that means acknowledging that my own father and his colleagues are clearly in the wrong. Their behavior is unacceptable and, even worse, it’s hard to have faith in them to improve and learn and they seem more concerned about covering up wrongdoings than addressing them honestly.”

Terry Francona addressed his son’s comments Tuesday with reporters.

“I love all my children, unconditionally,” he said. “As you can imagine, that’s a very difficult thing to see, so to deal with it publicly is hurtful.”

He also said he was unable to answer many of the questions on that day’s article on Callaway.

“Right now is just not the right time to respond to some of the questions I’m sure you have,” he said. “I do hope at some point, we are able to, because I think we need to. Just know that we take this very, very seriously. I apologize, but that’s where it is today.”

The Indians manager added: “Nobody’s ever deliberately covered up for anybody, I can tell you that.”