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Jeff Wilpon Is A Piece of Shit, According to Lawsuit

Mets fire one of their only successful employees for being pregnant and unmarried.
Photo by Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

Just when it seemed like the New York Mets co-owners couldn't get any more detestable, the Wilpons have, according to an astounding legal document, managed to outdo themselves. Former Senior Vice President for Ticket Sales and Services Leigh Castergine is suing Jeffrey Wilpon and Sterling Mets Front Office, LLC for wrongful termination. The complaint alleges that Wilpon repeatedly chastised and humiliated Castergine for being an unmarried pregnant woman and ultimately fired her for having a baby out of wedlock.

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The complaint is plenty embarrassing for the Mets organization even before the horrendous allegations are levied against Wilpon, dedicating much of its length to painstakingly detailing the organization's incompetence—on the baseball field and off—over the last decade:

"First and foremost, the team had not made the playoffs since 2006 and had come off two straight losing seasons…Moreover, the team had not been able to acquire premier talent, in part, because of its serious financial woes…The team had either traded away or failed to re-sign some of its marquee players and biggest fan attractions, including the 2011 National League batting champion Jose Reyes and 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey."

Although reading like a disgruntled fan's lamentations, the complaint establishes the enormity of the task set out for Castergine when she joined the team in 2010 to boost ticket sales. The complaint makes clear that her challenges were a direct result of the Wilpons' collective incompetence:

"The Team's ownership and front office have only made things worse. For example, Mets' executives persisted in publicly denying the Team's financial difficulties despite the obvious freefall in player payroll, further frustrating the team's fanbase. Indeed, each season the Mets' front office insisted that the Team had the ability to spend money on new players, only to see payroll drop even further. Some fans had become so disenchanted that they pledged not to attend any games until there was a change in ownership. Others compared Castergine's job to selling "deck chairs on the [T]itanic" or "tickets to the funeral.""

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Further, the complaint also alleges that, prior to Castergine's arrival, the team purposely inflated ticket prices so as to match those of the New York Yankees, despite demand being very different for the two clubs: "Team ownership insisted on the markup despite being aware that higher prices might cause fans to avoid coming to games." In the ultimate demonstration of the organization's backwardness, the suit claims that, as recently as 2010, the Mets collected data on index cards.

Despite working for the Mets, Castergine excelled at her job, receiving bonuses triggered by ticket sale goals. Regardless of her effectiveness, Jeffrey Wilpon systematically humiliated her when she became pregnant according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that Wilpon told a colleague that he is "old fashioned and thinks (Castergine) should be married before having a baby." Wilpon would mockingly check her hand for an engagement ring before meetings and provide rules regarding her pregnancy, such as "don't touch her belly and don't ask how she's doing; she's not sick she's pregnant."

It gets worse. Castergine collapsed during a meeting and found out she had intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and had to have her labor induced lest she deliver a stillborn. When she returned to work and attended a meeting to discuss a potential advertising campaign with an e-cigarette company, Wilpon allegedly said in the presence of Castergine and several other executives, "I am as morally opposed to putting an e-cigarette sign in my ballpark as I am to [Castergine] having this baby without being married."

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When Castergine approached Holly Lindvall, the Executive Director of Human Resources, Lindvall allegedly urged Castergine to quit. After her complaint, Wilpon told Castergine that, despite her demonstrated success with the organization, it would not be a "big deal" if she left.

Several months later, the Mets approached Castergine for the first time about purported "issues" with her performance; the complaint alleges they were "trumped up."

A few weeks later, Wilpon fired Castergine with the stated reason being her failure to meet sales goals. When firing her, Wilpon asserted "something changed" and she was no longer "as aggressive as she once had been," which echoes previous comments by Wilpon about the effectiveness of other female Mets employees post-pregnancy.

However, Castergine hadn't even been making day-to-day decisions for the 2014 season; she was on maternity leave. Lou DiPaoli, her immediate supervisor and a constant figure in the suit enabling Wilpon's comments, made most of the decisions in her stead.

With three days to sign a severance agreement, Castergine sought legal counsel. The complaint claims that on August 26, her legal team sent an email to the Mets "asserting Castergine's discrimination and retaliation claims." She was fired by email three minutes later.

Aside from the obviously appalling behavior by Jeffrey Wilpon, the suit illustrates a spineless organization unwilling to challenge its highest executives, who also happen to be some of the most incompetent people in baseball. If the allegations in the complaint are true, incompetence is the least of their moral failings.

The Mets did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (UPDATE: Statement from the Mets: "We have received and reviewed the complaint. The claims are without merit. Our organization maintains strong policies against any and all forms of discrimination.")

You can read the full complaint below:

Mets Discrimination Suit