Since M.L.B. and the players’ union enacted a domestic violence policy in 2015, 13 players have been suspended, with bans ranging from 15 to 162 games following investigations. While M.L.B. has often let the criminal process play out before meting out its own punishment, a conviction or arrest isn’t required for a suspension. For example, Yankees pitcher Domingo German was suspended for 81 games in 2020 — with no police involvement — because the league had evidence of his abuse of his partner and he cooperated with its investigation.
M.L.B.’s investigation into Bauer encompasses an incident that came to light last week in a Washington Post report that detailed how an Ohio woman had sought a protective order against him last year after accusing him of punching and choking her without consent during sex. According to the report, which relied on sealed court records and other documents, the woman dropped the request six weeks after filing it and after Bauer’s lawyers threatened legal action. Bauer called the report “a false narrative” and accused the woman of attempting extortion.
During the hearing in Los Angeles, Bauer did not testify. After the ruling, he stood outside the courthouse next to his lawyers, Jon Fetterolf and Shawn Holley, as they delivered brief remarks.
“We are grateful to the Los Angeles Superior Court for denying the request for a permanent restraining order and dissolving the temporary restraining order against Mr. Bauer today,” Holley said in a statement.
The woman’s lawyer, Lisa Helfend Meyer, said in a statement that she was disappointed in the judge’s ruling but was hopeful that Bauer would “voluntarily seek the help he needs to make sure that no other woman in a dating relationship with him suffers the same traumatic fate that she did.”
Meyer’s statement continued: “That is why she was willing to come forward and endure the victim blaming from Mr. Bauer that she knew would inevitably result. Keeping not only herself but also other women safe from the hands of this troubled man has always been a priority — and will continue to be so.”