Dave Stewart boycotting Dodgers celebration over Trevor Bauer accusations

In response to the Dodgers’ handling of the sexual assault allegations against star Trevor Bauer, pitching great Dave Stewart informed the organization that he will not attend its World Series 40th anniversary event.

Stewart, a rookie relief pitcher on the 1981 World Series team, told USA Today he is appalled at the fact that the Dodgers refused to discipline Bauer after a temporary restraining order was filed last week by a 27-year-old woman who told California police she was raped and assaulted by the reigning NL Cy Young award winner. No charges have been filed, but Bauer remains under criminal investigation.

Los Angeles had planned to keep Bauer in its starting rotation until MLB placed the 30-year-old hurler on a paid seven-day administrative leave on Friday. The league is expected to submit a request to the Players Association to extend the suspension an additional seven days under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

“The organization isn’t what it was when we came through,’’ Stewart, 64, told the paper. “The Dodgers organization that I grew up in under the O’Malley family would never stand for that. The Dodgers should have stepped up in that situation, and they didn’t. You’ve got to have character standards.

“I told them, ‘I can’t show up for that.’”

Dave Stewart with the Dodgers in 1982.
Dave Stewart with the Dodgers in 1982.
Getty Images

Bauer, through one of his agents Jon Fetterolf, has denied all allegations.

Per USA Today, when Stewart informed the Dodgers that he wouldn’t be attending the July 25 celebration, the organization said, “The team and the Players Association support the player until he’s guilty.”

Stewart, who has six sisters, said he responded in all caps: “HE BROKE THE UNWRITTEN RULE ON HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT WOMEN!”

Trevor Bauer has been accused of sexual assault.
Trevor Bauer has been accused of sexual assault.
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Dodgers have said they are awaiting MLB to make a decision, but Stewart believes the team should’ve suspended Bauer immediately. Bauer will have an opportunity to formally dispute the allegations at a hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court scheduled for July 23.

Pasadena police told USA Today the investigation, which has been going on for six weeks, is “bigger than we thought.”

“The Dodgers let MLB enforce the leave of absence, but in my opinion, you don’t need to wait for MLB to tell you what to do,” said Stewart, who pled guilty to soliciting a prostitute in 1985.

“Why are you putting your hands on a woman that way? He tries to say it was consensual, but what kind of person would ever do that?”

Stewart spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Dodgers before being traded to the Rangers. He would spend the bulk of his MLB career with the Athletics, where he won two more World Series in 1989 and 1993.

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