Roger McDowell was known as a prankster during his 12 season pitching in the major leagues from 1985-1996, often entertaining and appearing to enjoy a friendship with fans sitting in the right-field bleachers at Wrigley Field.
However, no one is laughing at McDowell's recent antics now.
McDowell, the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves, allegedly made anti-gay remarks to a group of male fans in San Francisco. He also allegedly made crude gestures with his hips and a baseball bat.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) immediately called for disciplinary action and reached out to officials with the Braves.
McDowell issued an apology regarding allegations, which included making violent threats before the Braves played the San Francisco Giants.
"I am deeply sorry that I responded to the heckling fans in San Francisco. I apologize to everyone for my actions," McDowell said in a statement several days after the incident.
GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said McDowell's apology is a start, "but the Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball must take real disciplinary action and send the message that anti-gay slurs have no place in sports.
"Professional sporting events should be an environment that all fans and families can enjoy, not a place where children are exposed to violent threats and discriminatory language."
[Note: Major League Baseball has suspended McDowell for two weeks, retroactive to April 29, and fined him an undisclosed amount of money, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.]
Attorney Gloria Allred announced the allegations in a news conference, representing Justin Quinn, his wife and two young daughters. Allred stated that they watched McDowell make anti-gay remarks at a group of male fans. Quinn said that McDowell proceeded to make crude gestures at the group. McDowell then allegedly told Quinn that children do not belong at a baseball park. He then picked up a bat, approached Quinn and asked him, 'How much are your teeth worth?'"
McDowell pitched for five teams during his 12-year career, and was the winning pitcher in the deciding Game 7 of the 1986 World Series while a member of the New York Mets. McDowell had a 70-70 lifetime record and recorded 159 saves in his career. This is McDowell's sixth season as Atlanta's pitching coach.
McDowell was signed by the Chicago White Sox for the 1997 season, but did not play that year due to two shoulder surgeries. He attended spring training with the White Sox in 1998, but retired before the season.
In 1992, McDowell made a cameo appearance in a two-part episode of Seinfeld, ironically called The Boyfriend. The episode also starred McDowell's ex-teammate, Keith Hernandez.
"As more and more sports teams refuse to allow this sort of behavior, we urge the Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball to investigate this matter immediately and work towards ensuring the safety of all fans and players," Barrios said.
LZ Granderson, an openly gay sportswriter from Michigan, added: "The silver lining from the incident is not what GLAAD, Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves, or even Roger McDowell eventually does, it's what people who weren't even targeted already did—they said something. So many times victims in that instance are left to defend themselves, but here, we have bystanders confronting McDowell and condemning his uncivil behavior. That's really encouraging because that's the kind of response needed in order to cripple the effects of bullying and detour prejudicial attacks."
Chicago-based transgender sportswriter Christina Kahrl added: "If the accusations are true, what's extraordinary about this situation is that it's someone in uniform directing comments and actions at fans and managing to simultaneously say something stupid about families, children, and gay people. [Former major leaguer] John Rocker never managed that, but, then again, Rocker was never accused of threatening somebody with a bat either. I have every faith that baseball will investigate the incident as thoroughly as Commissioner Bud Selig has said that it will, and will act appropriately if they determine that this transpired as Mr. Quinn says that it did."
