In a series of public responses over the past 24 hours, Larry Baer and Pamela Baer have cast video of San Fransisco Giants CEO lunging at his wife as an argument gone wrong as the incident stirred outcry on social media.
In the video, published Friday by TMZ, Baer can be seen jumping toward his wife knocking her from her chair. She can be heard yelling “Oh God!” and calling out for help as Baer appears to grab for a cellphone in her hand. “Pam, stop,” he demands in a second clip.
Eye witnesses told the San Francisco Chronicle they saw the couple arguing for about 20 minutes in a public plaza before the incident, and added that Pamela seemed “seemed pretty terrified” afterward. They said Baer only calmed down after two bystanders intervened.
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“He knocks her down off her chair and gets on top of her and puts his hands on her,” one witness recalled. “She was screaming for help.”
Police responded to the scene after the video was published, according to the Chronicle. The department did not respond to requests for comment on any investigation it might be conducting.
The Giants initially released a joint statement from Baer and his wife, calling the incident a a “heated argument in public over a family matter.”
“We are deeply embarrassed by the situation and have resolved the issue,” the statement read.
Later, the Giants released a second statement from Baer apologizing to his wife, his children, and the organization, adding, “I will do whatever it takes to make sure that I never behave in such an inappropriate manner again.”
Pamela Baer also issued a statement through an attorney, claiming she lost her balance and fell from the chair due to an injury to her foot. She said the incident began when she took Baer’s cell phone and did not want to give it back. “I did not sustain any injury based on what happened today,” she added. “Larry and I always have been and still are happily married.”
Nevertheless, the video drew outcry from fans and commentators.
“I always encourage waiting before making large conclusions on anything like this. All we see is the video snippets,” tweeted Tim Kawakami, editor in chief of local sports publication The Athletic. “But it's no rush to judgment to say that this is very ugly for Larry Baer and the Giants. It's not going away quickly.”
Under a domestic violence policy implemented in 2015, MLB players can be suspended for up to seven days while accusations are investigated. Players can be assigned treatment plans and disciplined by the baseball commissioner if they fail to comply. A spokesman for the MLB told The Daily Beast the policy also applied to CEOs.
Baer became CEO of the Giants in 2012, after leaving his position as the team’s marketing director to attend Harvard Business School and work for Westinghouse Broadcasting. He previously drew outcry for his response to news that Giants principal owner Charles Johnson had donated to Cindy Hyde-Smith, a U.S. senator who joked about public hangings.
“Neither I nor anyone else at the Giants can control who any of our owners support politically, just as we cannot and should not control whom any of our employees support politically,” Baer said at the time. “While our 30-plus owners span the political spectrum, they share one core belief: that sports has the power to inspire and galvanize a community."
