Originally posted by: TheAudit
Newsday
Reynolds gets axed by ESPN
BY NEIL BEST
Newsday Staff Writer
July 26, 2006
Harold Reynolds, one of ESPN's most visible analysts and a longtime panelist on "Baseball Tonight," has left the network in the wake of one or more incidents of sexual harassment.
An ESPN spokeswoman yesterday confirmed Reynolds' departure but repeatedly declined to provide a reason for it.
Three people who work at ESPN and were familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment, apparently culminating in a recent incident involving one of the network's young production assistants.
Reynolds, a major-leaguer for 12 seasons before joining ESPN in 1996, did not appear on "Baseball Tonight" on Monday after having worked the Sunday show, during which he and fellow analyst Steve Phillips suggested the Yankees trade Alex Rodriguez.
Harassment charges are nothing new at ESPN, which operates out of a sprawling "campus" in relatively isolated Bristol, Conn., and employs many production assistants in their early 20s. The network has an extensive program of education and sensitivity regarding gender issues and an elaborate system for pursuing claims of sexual harassment.
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, a former ESPN host, told The New York Observer in 2004 he had testified in "three or four major cases at ESPN."
Among the prominent ESPN personalities accused of improper behavior in the past is Mike Tirico, who will debut as the play-by-play man for "Monday Night Football" in the coming season. He was suspended by ESPN in 1992 for what were reported at the time to be allegations of sexual harassment. Another host, Jason Jackson, was fired in 2002, reportedly for harassment.
In addition to "Baseball Tonight" Reynolds, 45, who is married and has an infant daughter, worked as a game analyst for the Little League World Series and College World Series.
Reynolds was very popular personally among ESPN staffers, many of whom were shocked by his dismissal.