MLB Can Teach the NFL How To Handle Domestic Violence by Players

The MLB has been much more consistent and transparent than the NFL when disciplining players for domestic violence.

The MLB has had multiple incidents of domestic violence by players this year and has responded in a straightforward manner in each case. They have an agreement in place with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) that establishes guidelines for domestic violence offenses.

There were two high-profile cases in the offseason that resulted in suspensions for well-known players. The first involved relief pitcher Aroldis Champman, who was suspended for 30 games after accusations that he choked his girlfriend in a fight and fired eight “warning shots” while she hid in the bushes. The Davie (Florida) Police Department did not charge Chapman, citing a lack of sufficient evidence, conflicting stories, and failure of witnesses to cooperate. Even though he wasn’t charged, Chapman was suspended for 30 days and lost $1,856,557 in salary.

The Colorado Rockies’ Jose Reyes was suspended 52 games without pay for an incident that occurred last Halloween. He was arrested for assaulting his wife (and mother of his three daughters) in a hotel room in Maui.

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According to reports, Reyes and Katherine were fighting loudly, which resulted in hotel security being called. Hotel security then called the police, who were told by Katherine that Reyes, “grabbed her off the bed and shoved her” and “grabbed her throat and shoved her into the sliding glass balcony door.” She was taken to the hospital for injuries to her thigh, neck, and wrist. Charges were dropped against Reyes when Katherine stopped cooperating with authorities, which is all too common in incidents like this.

Major League Baseball worked with the Players Association to suspend both Chapman and Reyes. This is important because it reduces the likelihood of the player to appeal, which not only drags out the process but reflects poorly on the player. Along with his suspension without pay, Reyes was required to donate $100,000 to a domestic violence charity.

A third major league player, Yasiel Puig, was investigated for an incident at a Miami-area nightclub on November 26, 2015. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball investigated the incident and could not uncover any witness who supported the assault allegations. Puig was not disciplined.

Early in the season, Atlanta Braves outfielder Hector Olivera was arrested in Arlington, Virginia for a domestic violence incident. He was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery at the team’s hotel during a series with the Nationals in April. The female victim showed bruising and was transported to a local hospital with injuries. Olivera was suspended for 82 games, which is the longest suspension doled out by Major League Baseball for a domestic violence incident.

The MLB has strengthened their domestic violence policy. Chapman’s suspension of 30 games is about one-fifth of a major league season. Reyes’ 52-game suspension is almost one-third of the season. Oliveras was suspended for just over half the season. While some may argue the suspensions doled out are not long enough, MLB does have a policy with an established protocol for these incidents. They investigate as well as they can, then work with the Players Association to determine a penalty.

The NFL, on the other hand, seems to haphazardly suspend players based on however commissioner Roger Goodell is feeling that day. Ray Rice was a very high-profile case in 2014. Rice got into an altercation with his wife in February and was indicted for third-degree aggravated assault in March. The NFL initially suspended him for just two games. After a video surfaced of Rice dragging his girlfriend out of an elevator, his contract was terminated by the Ravens and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. He hasn’t played since.

At the time, after the Rice case caused a very public outcry, Goodell outlined a domestic violence policy that included a six-game suspension without pay for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second offense. In reality, there was no new policy. The NFL did not work with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) before Goodell announced this new policy. Also, it didn’t give Goodell any more power than he already had. Under the existing Personal Conduct Policy, Goodell already had the power to hand out any suspension he saw fit. If he had handled the Ray Rice case correctly in the first place, there would be no need for this “alleged” new policy.

More importantly, the way the NFL handles discipline is ridiculous. If a player commits a transgression, he can be disciplined by commissioner Roger Goodell. The player can then file an appeal. The appeal process includes a hearing in front of a new expert panel. That panel then makes a recommendation to . . . Roger Goodell. Goodell then hands out the discipline. Like I said, it’s ridiculous.

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After Goodell announced this “new” policy, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft essentially admitted that the NFL’s new policy was a sham. At a press conference at the time, Kraft said owners considered handing the authority to decide on the final suspension to an independent arbitrator but they decided that an arbitrator could “compromise or water down what our best interests are.” He said the owners chose to leave the responsibility for discipline with Goodell because he “understands the long-term best interests of the game.”

The “long-term best interests of the game” is to sweep domestic violence incidents by NFL players under the rug as much as possible, as has been shown with a much more recent case involving kicker Josh Brown of the New York Giants. Brown was suspended for one game at the start of the season. Initially, no specific reason was given for the suspension. In fact, Brown was given a new two-year, $4 million contract in the offseason by the Giants.

More details came out earlier this week that shows just how abusive Josh Brown was. He admitted physically, verbally, and emotionally abusing his wife, Molly. Brown also admitted that he viewed himself as God and his wife was basically his slave. His wife told police that he had been abusive to her more than 20 times.

In a letter to friends, Brown wrote, “I have been a liar for most of my life. I made a selfish decision to use and abuse women starting at the age of seven to fill this void. I objectified women and never really worried about the pain and hurt I caused them. My ability to connect emotionally to other people was zero. My empathy levels were zero. Because I never handled these underlying issues I became an abuser and hurt Molly physically, emotionally, and verbally. I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave.”

Molly Brown said the New York Giants, including several members of the team, were aware of the domestic violence in their relationship and did nothing to stop it. She also said she did not want to speak with the NFL because she worried the league “would only be looking to bury this whole incident and protect Josh.” It appears that she was correct about that.

With the spotlight now shining more brightly on Josh Brown, the NFL is re-opening its investigation. Brown is not traveling with the team to London for Sunday’s game against the Rams and has been placed on the “exempt list” while the league investigates. One of the co-owners of the Giants, John Mara, said the team knew about a domestic violence incident with Brown and his wife in Hawaii during the most-recent Pro Bowl. Despite this, they re-signed him to that 2-year, $4 million contract prior to this season.

The NFL is claiming their one-game suspension was because they were unable to find more information about Brown’s history of abuse. The league said, “NFL investigators made repeated attempts—both orally and in writing—to obtain any and all evidence and relevant information in this case from the King Country’s Sherriff’s Office” but “each of those requests was denied and the Sherriff’s Office declined to provide any of the requested information, which ultimately limited our ability to investigate this matter.”

Of course, the league has lost so much credibility with domestic violence issues that it’s hard to believe anything they say these days. At the time of Brown’s arrest in May of 2015, the NFL concluded that Brown violated the league’s personal conduct policy based on evidence provided, including statements from Molly Brown. Goodell could have dispensed an appropriate suspension at that time. Instead, the arrest was kept quiet and Brown played the entire season before the one-game suspension was handed down at the start of this year.

Also, at the Pro Bowl in Honolulu in February, Molly Brown said she called NFL security to move her and her three children to another hotel to avoid harassment from Josh Brown after he pounded on their hotel room door trying to get in. Roger Goodell had that information before deciding on the one-game suspension.

This is a league that should be sensitive to the domestic violence issue considering the number of players who have been involved in such incidents, yet they kept everything as quiet as they could and handed out a minimal suspension. The only reason they are now considering more discipline for Brown is because the case has become much more public. This fits the pattern of Roger Goodell.

The NFL has long been more interested in protecting their brand than protecting women from abusive NFL players. Former Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said that during his 30 years in the NFL, teams covered up hundreds of domestic violence incidents.

One of the very unfortunate aspects of domestic violence is the reluctance of the victim to come forward. Many times, particularly in the case of a well-paid athlete, the victim has much to lose if she comes forward and negatively impacts the ability of her partner to make the kind of money these players are making. The wife of a former New Orleans Saints player said, “He would remind me of that night, how no one would care if I was gone and how the cops did [not care]. It was all about him. He reminded me that I was alone and disposable.”

More than one-third of women in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Of these incidents, only 55% are even reported to the police, often because the victim is afraid of not being believed by law enforcement and afraid of being abused even further by the perpetrator. Of the incidents that are reported, only one-third result in charges. Research shows that professional athletes are even less likely than non-athletes to be convicted of domestic violence crimes.

It all too often seems that teams would rather not know about an incident, so they don’t investigate allegations as thoroughly as they could. A few years ago, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said specifically and explicitly that any player who had put his hands on a woman in a violent sense would have trouble finding his way onto Seattle’s roster. In 2015, the Seattle Seahawks drafted defensive end Frank Clark in the second round of the NFL Draft. They did this knowing that Clark had been charged with domestic violence and kicked off his college team.

After the pick was announced, Schneider was reminded of his earlier statement about not having someone on the team who had put his hands on a woman in a violent way. Schneider said violence against women was still a deal-breaker for the team. Then, during a press conference with numerous questions about the drafting of Clark, Shneider acknowledged that they had not spoken to the alleged victim. Later, a police report surfaced that had a witness account of Clark punching his girlfriend in the face and grabbing her by the throat, picking her up off the ground, and slamming her down. When confronted about this, the Seahawks admitted they did not speak to any of the three witnesses from that night or to the victim.

The NFL has a domestic violence partner called NO MORE that created public service announcements geared at women during the Super Bowl, but NO MORE does not provide any services for domestic violence victims or even connect them to services that can actually help. It’s all for show. The NFL talks the talk but does not walk the walk.

This PSA from a group of Los Angeles filmmakers known as Made By Women is called “Topless Women Talk NFL” and addresses the NFL’s recent struggles to deal with domestic violence.

Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy was made in agreement with the MLBPA, which is the way it needs to be done. Because of the agreement between the league and the player’s union, MLB suspensions are far less susceptible to being overturned by the courts on appeal. In each case so far, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has worked with the union to hand out discipline. This has the added benefit of not having a player appeal to get his suspension reduced for a domestic violence incident, which would reflect poorly on that player.

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When it comes to domestic violence, the MLB can teach the NFL a thing or two. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL owners continue to do their best to hide the league’s domestic violence problems. As the Josh Brown case shows, they would rather brush these events under the rug than meet them head on and dole out the discipline that is deserved. Roger Goodell and the NFL owners should be ashamed of themselves.