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Mariners CEO Kevin Mather resigns after comments

Mariners Mather Baseball
Posted at 3:32 PM, Feb 22, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-22 17:32:05-05

The Seattle Mariners released a statement Monday that stated CEO Kevin Mather had resigned after a video surfaced of him going on a tirade about almost every member of the Mariners organization.

Mariners Chairman John Stanton said that Mather's comments were inappropriate and did not represent the organization's views.

Staton will take on the role of interim CEO and Mather's resignation is effective immediately.

"There is no excuse for what was said, and I won’t try to make one,” Stanton said in the statement. “I offer my sincere apology on behalf of the club and my partners to our players and fans. We must be, and do, better.”

Mather issued an apology Sunday in a statement per the Seattle Times' Ryan Divish, stating he spent all day apologizing to the people he insulted.

In a press release on Monday, the Major League Baseball Players Association called the video "highly disturbing."

"The Club’s video presentation is a highly disturbing yet critically important window into how Players are genuinely viewed by management," the association said in a statement. "Not just because of what was said, but also because it represents an unfiltered look into Club thinking. It is offensive, and it is not surprising that fans and others around the game are offended as well. Players remain committed to confronting these issues at the bargaining table and elsewhere."

The news of Mather's resignation comes as a video surfaced of Mather's making disparaging comments about players and personnel to the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club on Feb. 5, The Associated Press reported.