Ex-Phillie Mitch Williams Suing MLB Network, Deadspin

Hey, what’s ol’ Mitchy-poo been up to? Oh, I see: He’s suing MLB Network and Deadspin stemming from a report Deadspin posted about Williams’ behavior at a youth tourney game this April.

Williams, the Daily News reports, is suing MLB Network for wrongful termination and defamation and Deadspin for defamation. After Deadspin posted its report — which included allegations of foul language by Williams and photos of him chest-to-chest with an ump at an under-10 tournament in New Jersey — Williams admitted being ejected from the game, but claimed it was the ump who was the problem.

https://twitter.com/Mitch99Williams/status/465464806108299264

He apologized the next day, as ordered to by his MLB Network bosses. But another report said Williams called a kid a pussy and ordered a beanball. Williams took another leave of absence and was subsequently fired.

The suit denies the name-calling the beanball-ordering and says Williams has evidence to contradict Deadspin’s report. It also contends MLB Network ordered Williams to sign a paper saying he wouldn’t attend the baseball games of any of his children. It’s not clear if Williams would have been allowed to attend other sports; in 2008, he was banned from his daughter’s basketball games after cursing at a female official.

“We can confirm that Mitch Williams is no longer an MLB Network analyst,” a spokesman for MLB Network told the Daily News. “We believe that the behavior he demonstrated at the youth baseball tournament speaks for itself.”

[DN]