Mets fire clubhouse manager Samuels
In this Oct. 2, 2005, file photo, then-New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza embraces Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels after a tribute to Piazza's seven-year career with the Mets, during a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in New York. Credit: AP
The Mets announced Friday that longtime clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels, who a law enforcement source said is under investigation for alleged ties to illegal gambling, has been fired "for conduct in violation of club policies."
The Mets said Friday in a statement that the decision to fire Samuels "is the result of a thorough internal investigation over the course of several months." The team refused any further comment on the matter.
Samuels, who had been employed by the Mets since 1976, was suspended indefinitely without pay Oct. 27 for what the team described as a "personnel matter."
He has admitted to Major League Baseball investigators that he had bet on baseball, according to a person familiar with the league's internal investigation.
Samuels, 53, has been linked to an NYPD investigation into illegal gambling, a law enforcement source said last week. A baseball official familiar with the situation confirmed that the Mets had been told of the gambling link and said Samuels' alleged gambling activities have been going on for years.
Reached Friday night by phone, Samuels' attorney, Michael Bachner, declined to comment when asked about the firing and any new developments in the investigation. A spokesman for the Queens District Attorney's office declined to comment Friday night.
Major League Baseball has long taken a strict stance against gambling by players, coaches and other employees; all-time hits leader Pete Rose, for example, received a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation found that he bet on major-league games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
With Jim Baumbach and Anthony M. DeStefano.
