Former MLB star Omar Vizquel accused of sexually harassing batboy
Former baseball star Omar Vizquel sexually harassed an autistic bat boy when he was the manager of a minor league team, according to a federal lawsuit.
According to the complaint filed in the Northern District of Alabama, the incident occurred after a Birmingham Barons game on Aug. 22, 2019. The plaintiff claims Vizquel, 54, ordered the batboy, who is now 25, to shower with him and made the man wash his back before turning around.
“Vizquel’s penis was fully erect. He made no effort to hide his erection ... rather, he proudly displayed it,” the lawsuit says.
The batboy told two other team employees about the incident contemporaneously and they laughed at him, according to the complaint.
Vizquel, the Barons and the Chicago White Sox, the minor-league team’s parent club, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Vizquel was fired in late 2019 after an investigation, the Major League team said.
“After first learning of an alleged incident in late August 2019, the Chicago White Sox conducted an internal investigation that resulted in the termination of the organization’s relationship with Omar Vizquel,” the team said in a statement. “Because this is active litigation, at this time the White Sox will not comment further regarding the allegations included in this lawsuit.”
Vizquel had been managing the Tijuana Bulls in the Mexican Baseball League but was fired two weeks ago. It is unclear if that was related to the sexual harassment complaint. Vizquel was also accused of domestic abuse by his estranged wife in 2020.
The 11-time Gold Glove award winner had a 24-year playing career with the Seattle Mariners, the Cleveland Indians, the San Francisco Giants, the Texas Rangers, the White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
