Mariners CEO resigns after remarks about players’ English skills

The president and CEO of the Seattle Mariners has resigned after video surfaced of him making comments about racial minorities and professional baseball’s language barrier that the league labeled as “misguided.” 

Mariners Chairman John Stanton announced on Monday that Kevin Mather has resigned as the team weighed whether to fire him after the comments came to light on social media. 

“There were a number of comments made by Kevin that, as I’ve said, didn’t reflect the Mariners, don’t reflect what I believe, what our ownership believes, and were inappropriate,” Stanton said. “Those comments included some of the things that have been referenced with respect to our players, and in particular the importance of diversity and inclusion in our organization.”

During an online event with a local Rotary Club, Mather complained about the team having to facilitate interpreters for players who are not fluent in English when they come to the U.S. to play baseball. 

“Wonderful human being — his English was terrible,” Mather said of Julio Rodriguez, a top prospect in the organization, also mentioning former all-star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma “He wanted to get back into the game, he came to us, we quite frankly want him as our Asian scout/interpreter, what’s going on with the Japanese league. He’s coming to spring training,” Mather said. “And I’m going to say, I’m tired of paying his interpreter. When he was a player, we’d pay Iwakuma ‘X,’ but we’d also have to pay $75,000 a year to have an interpreter with him. His English suddenly got better. His English got better when we told him that.”

Major League Baseball said it condemned Mather’s “offensive and disrespectful comments about several players.” 

“We are proud of the international players who have made baseball better through their outstanding examples of courage and determination, and our global game is far better because of their contributions,” the league said in a statement. “His misguided remarks do not represent the values of our game and have no place in our sport.”

Mather apologized for his comments after they were circulated online on Sunday.  

“I want to apologize to every member of the Seattle Mariners organization, especially our players and to our fans,” Mather said in a statement. “There is no excuse for my behavior, and I take full responsibility for my terrible lapse in judgment.”

Mather had previously been accused of harassing a female employee in the organization but retained his job despite a reported settlement.