The Chicago police department is investigating an allegation of sexual assault against Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang, as Stacy St. Clair and David Henzmann of the Chicago Tribune report. The ballclub has issued a statement, signed to CEO Frank Coonelly, in which it declined comment but did acknowledge the investigation.
According to the report, the investigation relates to events that occurred during the Pirates’ trip to Chicago last month. Pittsburgh played a series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field from June 17th through 19th. You can find further details of the claims at the link provided above.
Kang, 29, has played with the Pirates since the start of 2015 after previously featuring as a star in his native Korea. He has been a high-quality player for Pittsburgh, though certainly on-field considerations are not of primary concern given the seriousness of the matter at hand.
The Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy governs the investigation and punishment of matters such as these, as well as many related issues. Commissioner Rob Manfred has the authority to place Kang on paid administrative leave for seven days while the league begins looking into the matter, though no such action has been taken to this point.
This news comes even as Jose Reyes returns today for the Mets after serving a lengthy suspension for a domestic violence incident. Major league baseball has doled out suspensions to two other players — Hector Olivera and Aroldis Chapman — under the above-noted policy, which was announced last August. So far as has been publicly reported, none of those situations involved allegations of sexual violence, but instead fell under the policy due to their domestic implications.
Uh oh.
I think it’s Jung Ho.
Not a situation to make light of.
Yeah how Kang you make a joke at a time like this.
*claps*
Dumb Donald Trump is facing the same thing no one saying nothing about his and it was a 13 year old girl ? Now what wait for it ( shut up )$ Dollars walks ,right USA
Damn. I just traded for him like 3 weeks ago
Because that’s the problem here
Only thing more important than adults playing a children’s game is adults playing a spreadsheet game based on results from adults playing a children’s game. Duh.
Dude, I love that analogy.
*thumbs up*
I just want to saw thank you to the site and authors for letting us comment on issues like this. Baseball and sports in general have people that kids and adults look up to and idolize. Some may lead disappointing life’s outside and some may get stuck in a tough situation like this (depending on whether or not this accusation is true).
So if we are disappointed with them or just have a thought or reaction, I’m glad we can comment. Sports and baseball is great and fun and a distraction from the rest of the world (at least for me) but when real world issues are happening within the sport, we as fans have a right to talk about it. I understand that there will probably be a bad egg or two that brings up something no one wants to hear, but the author can deal with it at the time.
So thank you MLBTR for giving us a voice for every topic.
If you don’t know what I’m referring to, anyone who reads bleacher report, (which has very few MLB articles, turning into ESPN, which only really cares and talks about NBA and NFL) withholds the right for users to comment on anything they think is offense or inappropriate. Ex: Curt Schillings racist comments, the article above, any racist, sexist, criminal accusations, etc.
So thank you again for giving us a voice on matters other than baseball.
Great post.
Agreed, thanks
Well said!
1
Thanks for commenting about our ability to comment without actually commenting even though you’ve noticed that we can comment! Feel free to actually comment about Mr Kang and his Jung Ho!
Well said!!
Curt Shillings Trump V P
Why couldn’t this have been Bryce Harper?
uncalled for and disgusting.
WTF is wrong with you?
Because Harper is a good human being.
HA! A real pillar of the community.
He is though… Harper plays the bad guy on the field, but hes a good kid.
You just never hear those feel good stories with him the way you do with Trout Goldshmidt or Papi though.
I read an article saying hes gave a ton of money to homeless woman
That was the whole team I thought.
If they wrote an article then it must be true! Especially if they put it on the Internet!
Maybe I’m giving Brixton an undeserved benefit of the doubt, but I’m thinking he, as most people, know which are reputable sources on the Internet and which aren’t.
Trust me, you diddnt know Harper in high school, I personally didn’t, but I know those who did.
Who cares. Maybe they were jealous of him. Just b/c someone tells you something it doesn’t make it true.
I’m sure if it was your sister/girlfriend/wife/mother/close friend on the other end of this, you’d think twice before posting such bs
You need a standing applause.
On the receiving end?!
Also not funny.
Seriously, why wish this upon someone?
While I’ll wait for the final reports before throwing the guy to the wolves, I do have to say if the woman’s report is true then he should get an automatic ban from baseball.
I do not condone this type of behavior. But everyone deserves a second chance. Even you have most likely had countless second chances in life.
Second chances are always good, but the report said he drugged then assaulted her. If this turns out to be true, I’d give him the full Pete Rose treatment and void his deal.
Agree
That’s exactly what I’m saying. While I hate to qualify which domestic violence crime is worse, this is an offense that should get you substantial time in jail then your name permanently put on an offender registry.
I do believe in second chances and yes I’ve received many and given many as well. But I believe if the allegation is true then the crime is unforgivable in many aspects.
so give him a second chance making minimum wage 9-to-5 like most of the rest of us. Not getting payed millions of dollars to play a game for a living
AFTER he’s served an appropriate prison sentence, of course
getting paid to win baseball games is not a form of redemption
I don’t work minimum wage. Speak for yourself
That’s what every inmate at Oak Park Heights says
If the report is true, he effectively will be banned from MLB regardless of what MLB does. This case will be unique from the others because this player requires a visa to play in this country (Cuban refugees are under different immigration rules) and if the allegations are true he will no longer be granted a visa to play ball in the US, so his MLB days will be done even if he’s not technically banned for life.
First off, I in no way condone violence towards anyone (man or woman). On sports sites sometimes we get stuck in the mentality that women are small, weak beings, that should be handled with great care. That is another rant for another time though.
I have to ask you this Gogol, why should a person’s out of work actions result in him losing his place within his profession? Yes, I can see someone in the public service sector losing their job forever. But, if a construction worker or a florist commited the offense Mr. Kang is accused of commiting would you be calling for a permanent ban for them? If Kang is convicted and say serves 5 years, when he is released having bad his full debt to society, he should be banned from his profession forever because he committed a crime that had absolutely nothing to do with his profession? Mike Tyson wasn’t banned from boxing, but baseball should be different? I agree the alleged crime is deplorable and demands harsh punishment, but taking away a person’s paycheck is as equally deplorable when he did not commit the alleged offense while “on the clock”. Now, I would strongly urge all teams to distance themselves from an offender like that and would hope no team would want to be associated with someone like that. It should be left up to the employer, not the customer to decide if he is worthy of a second chance. It is liberal outrage like this that has allowed an absolute fool to become a major party candidate for President.
Build that wall Donald (figure I’d add a trolling comment in response to the original comment).
Hopefully he builds it on top of YOU
I see your humor here. But if someone were to say something similar to that in a different tone, then we might get on a completely unnecessary rant. Just thankful for the opportunity to comment with my fellow fans and enjoy good discussion
I like to assume people are innocent until proven guilty.
This is a nice idea in principle, and is absolutely necessary in court, where someone’s freedom is at stake.
However, have you thought about the possibility that assuming the innocence of one party may require assuming the guilt of the other? If we assume Kang is innocent, we may need to assume the accuser is guilty of making false statements. Where is the presumption of her innocence?
As soon as any accusation is made, we pick a side. If we side with the accused (saying innocent until proven guilty), we may actually be calling the accuser guilty, saying they are guilty of lying until proven innocent, violating the principle we claim we are upholding.
I salute you sir!! Guilty until proven innocent is for the justice system. In this case someone is guilty of something and withholding criticism until the final outcome is the best way to avoid foot in mouth disease.
Among the “real world issues” one of the posters mentioned is the fact that allegations of this type often proved to be entirely false and malicious. Just ask the Duke lacrosse players who were pilloried for more than a year brfore the falsity of the bogus allegations against them became clear
we have to see if there is any truth to this. there isnt any details yet. have we not learned from the patrick kane incident? lets see what comes out first.
I think the more serious posters here are making a point of not trying to crucify him yet. It’s just shocking to hear the allegation.
Uh yea actually there’s a whole story, no facts yet. They talked on a dating app where the woman is the one who does the talking, he invited her to the room after a game where he allegedly gave her a drink that knocked her out and for 15-20 mins as she blacked in and out of consciousness he sexually assaulted her. She awoke by the time the taxi got to her house and then a couple days later had a rape test done.
All allegedly of course
That’s terribly racist.
and not even correctly racists to begin with….
uhh, Godzilla was Japanese not Korean. Just sayin tho.
Wow. Shocked both as a fan and as a human being. Kang is my favorite player on my favorite team… unless this turns out to be true, of course. But I never in a million years would have picked him as a candidate to possibly do something so disgusting. Hopefully, he didnt.
Kudos to all of the previous posters who criticized those who were joking about this story. I love humor, and I often use it when I post here, but this is not the thread for it. If some of you aren’t ashamed of yourself, well, you should be.
You basically sound as your stance is he is guilty of assumed charges.
Let’s be real here, they both were on the app looking for something.
Now it did happen after a ball game so presumably later in the night where she COULD or could not have already been drinking/got drunk.
She could have had consensual sex and then regretted it later.
A lot of could haves, but there is no harm or shame in making light of a situation.
Braves 2015: That’s not at all what I was trying to imply, apologies if that is how it came across. I don’t assume at all that he is/was guilty. I do think that making light of the possibility of sexual assault isn’t funny. There isn’t “harm”, per se, but I cannot imagine what those involved with this situation are going through or feeling right now, and I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. It’s just, to me, in very poor taste to poke fun at this issue.
Clearly my favorite, too. I am shocked this is even emerging. I mean, I have no knowledge of him personally, but as you said, I’d never pick him from the 25-man roster as the one who would be likeliest to be accused of sexual assault.
“This isn’t funny. I would know because I have a great sense of humor!”
Since Bill Cosby people are looking into cash in on these sort of claims. And let’s not forget the Duke University Lacrosse Team or that fraternity at the University of Virginia. Both totally fabricated.
innocent till proven guilty…. athletes have a target on their back lets just see how this plays out
Obviously we aren’t aware if the allegations are true or not but if they turn out to be false am I the only one who thinks that women should be held accountable when they make false accusations? Because it seems they seldom are…
If someone were to file a demonstrably untrue police report, say, they could face consequences. Not sure why your thoughts immediately go there, however, and I think you might want to do some reading on the topic before entering the fray.
Applause.
So he is in the wrong because he believes if the accuser in this case happens to be guilty of fabricating the entire thing she should be punished? It would not be the first time something like this has been made up and I don’t understand why you have chosen to respond to a credible statement in such a way. The OP doesn’t seem to have stated an opinion on the crime or this victim/accuser herself, just on those that have lied and will lie in the future.
You would be correct Jeff but it rarely happens and when it does it is barely even a slap on the wrist. A counter civil suit probably won’t do any good either. Generally the only person who faces any consequences with false reports in these types of cases is the person accused… true or not Kang’s name is tarnished forever.
IMO: If it is proven you lied and accused someone of a crime like this and it is proven that it is blatant out for money or other personal gain you should have the same punishment the other person would’ve received if it was true.
My first thought was that someone probably had one or two too many drinks and a cultural misunderstanding but that is just what popped in my head. I hope that is the worst case.
i hope you are the only one who thinks that
the last thing women in this country need is one more reason NOT to report these crimes
So if a woman blatantly makes up a story in hopes of receiving money or something else of value and when the truth comes out (Duke Lacrosse) that she made the entire thing up, she should be able to get away with a “sorry, I lied”?? What is going to prevent innocent victims in the future of having their reputations utterly destroyed for no wrong doing of their own? I don’t know if Kang is guilty or not. If he is he should be punished accordingly. If it comes out this woman made the entire story up just to sue him for his millions ( irrefutable evidence proving it’s fabricated) then she should be punished accordingly as well.
if she’s proven to have lied she’ll be punished the same way anyone else would be for filing a false report with the police. And then be liable for further civil lawsuits for defamation, etc.
If the investigation turns up no evidence, however (which isn’t the same as proving the women falsified anything), NO, there should not be legal implications for the woman.
sexual assault in this country is already one of the easiest crimes to get away with simply because of how difficult it is on the victim just to come forward in the first place. The attitude the original poster (and yourself) seem to hold is part of that problem, frankly.
Okay, so just logged back in and perused some of the responses to my question…now to respond to each person in turn…
First to Mr Todd: Based on your response, I would advise you to read more on these cases before you enter the fray…as often times zero punishment is meted out when a woman falsely accuses a man of a sexual assault and the man still ends up with numerous people believing he committed said crime…thus still having a detrimental effect on his life, even if he has done nothing wrong the accusation alone can ruin someones life.
Second to Mr Coffin: thanks for the support.
Third to Mr Petrie: I agree with your first statement wholeheartedly and would support and encourage any woman who has been violated in any way to report it. I take exception to your second statement however…there is not alot of cases where a woman has admitted to lying or in some other way ( ie: regret sex) falsifying a report with the police facing any sort of punishment for their false acusations…it siinferreds not happen very often…it seems that often people tend to believe that the alleged assault took place even after it has proven to be demonstrably false. A recent case in Canada: The Ghomeshi case is a prime example of this, look it up…finally, the fact that you believe you can detect “attitude” in my original post and that said attitude is part of the problem is just plain laughable. Unless you are able to read a person’s soul while reading their written words on the internet I would recommend that you limit your observations to what I actually said and not what you inferred, frankly.
People aren’t punished for saying a lot of things that don’t turn out to be true. Just flip on your TV. Even if someone is unfairly believed to be an offender, that doesn’t come anywhere near the harm that befalls real victims.
Now, I obviously don’t think it’s okay to make up such a thing, but none of this has any bearing on the facts of this case (which are still largely unknown) so far as we know. And discussing wrongful accuser punishment every time there are allegations of sexual misconduct doesn’t seem useful — unless you’re just looking to cast doubt on anyone and everyone who claims to have been assaulted.
IF they are unfairly accused and believed to be an “offender”, they are the victim.
It is actually very useful Jeff.. maybe not on a baseball blog.. but in general. With the increased awareness of Domestic Violence false accusations has become even more common .. well at least in my area… and men are still laughed at when they report that their significant others are abusing them, what is even worse is when the man gets charged when he tries to defend himself. It is NOT okay,
Does this have any baring on the case? maybe.. maybe not you are right we just don’t know now It probably won’t be until October when the Pirates are Playing the Cubs in the NLCS that we find out Kang can’t play because of the case. little conspiracy theory for you 😉
A man who is truly unfairly accused is a victim, albeit of a very different kind, and that can have very real consequences. And men who are victims of abuse certainly shouldn’t be laughed at.
But I can’t fathom why it’s necessary to immediately begin discussing what penalties an accuser should face if they are ultimately found to be lying, at a point at which there is no indication that the unknown accuser in question is lying.
If it turns out that there is reason to believe that, then perhaps that presents an opportune moment to have that discussion — with the benefit of a full set of facts in front of you.
You are right is is a different kind of victim, IF the allegations are completely false then it is much worse for him than her. His name will be tarnished forever and she MIGHT get a fine and short stint in jail. If i could bold, underline and make the IF stand out more I would because anything now is just wild speculation but it is common enough to make note of.
From another angle Jeff, “We” are blogging about it and we do not have the benefit of a full set of facts in front of us.
If we can talk about possible penalties both criminal and professional for Kang who hasn’t been charged with anything as of yet.. we should be able to talk about possible penalties for the alleged victim who remains nameless (last i heard)
not criticizing… just saying on discussion opens the door to another.
I understand, and appreciate that the discussion is civil. But you’ll notice that the post doesn’t include any talk of all the possible punitive measures that could face Kang. I just discussed what’s known: there was an allegation and it is being investigated.
We did ultimately get into the broader implications in the case of Reyes, but that occurred as further facts came to light and he was arrested and charged.
that’s true, but comments and other blogs are talking about it and they don’t get ‘a talking too’ or what have you
If it where up to me.. no one would be allowed to report it until charges are filed.
Cue the “going gung-ho and swinging a big stick” jokes.
If this turns out to be true where can we address congratulatory cards to Coghlan for a well placed slide.
Obviously too early to speculate any thing but I wonder what kind of drugs players receive when recovering from surgeries, I’d imagine some pretty powerful stuff would be made available.
Disappointed. If true I hope the Pirates do the right thing and release him.
Great season for the Pirates so far.
Athletes are human, this type of accusation cannot be taken lightly, as was the case in Reyes, Chapman and Olivera. However, as the league has stipulated via there bans, it is important to remember that PED offences are equally intolerable. If teams are going to start releasing players for offences like the Rockies did Reyes, why not do the same with guys like Dee Gordon and Collabello? There bans are obviously viewed as even more serious by the Commissioners office.
The Marlins don’t care if dee Gordon did some peds, yea they are upset he missed games that could have costs them some wins but they aren’t going to let him go over it either. Now had he sexually or physically assaulted a woman, without a doubt, then sure cause that would look bad for them
There is not any comparison between PEDs and violence.
Why post this article if nothing has been proven yet?
Because look at all the attention it’s getting
It’s a notable story with implications for the things we cover here. And I’m not going to weigh if/when something has been “proven” — that can mean many different things.
Lol only the only people that get so offended by a 14 year old are from this sight, if your so offended just make an age requirement
I have no idea what you are talking about, but feel free to clarify. When did I say I was offended by something? Huh?
You obviously are taking offense because you keep replying, dropping yourself to the level of a 14 year old
You asked a question – why post this? – and I answered. But it’s cool, you’re getting banned.
Haha, what a weird exchange that was…
will he be out of the lineup for the rest of the week? Started him in fantasy.
Chicago trying to take him out again
If we are going to assume innocence or guilt put the situation to the razor test. Is it simpler that the woman is scheming and popped pills to set the guy up or that a multimillionaire sports star had to lure in a victim drug her then rape her and convinced her to leave without calling the police. Lots of women would love to get pregnant by a multimillionaire. I think it’s simpler that the woman on a dating website convinced the idiot to let her come to the hotel room for sex and is after a pay day. Could be wrong but whoever is the predator in the situation has a history of similar behaviors. It could be as simple as talking to both of their ex’s.
Thank you, the movie Contact, for making everyone think they’re logicians.
How do airplanes fly? “Magic” is a simpler answer than “Lift is the lift coefficient times air density times half of velocity squared times wing area” so it must be magic.
It’s not about how grammatically simple your sentences are.
This all comes down to evidence or a lack thereof and you try to construct the most likely scenario based on that. Investigators need to meet probable cause to charge and reasonable doubt to convict, while MLB’s investigators don’t need quite that much. We’ll see where the evidence leads.
Damn, how often did this stuff happen before we had wall-to-wall media coverage of everything ever? It used to be nobody even knew your middle name if you weren’t an everyday player for the Yankees.