Former Sports Reporter Kat O’Brien Reveals She Was Raped by MLB Player

It’s never too late to bring light to the past. Former sports reporter Kat O’Brien is doing exactly that. This week she revealed she was raped by a Major League Baseball player in a hotel room. The incident took place almost 20 years ago. According to O’Brien she was interviewing the unnamed player for a story about foreign-born sluggers adapting to US culture when he “moved suddenly to kiss me,” she wrote in a first-person column Sunday in the New York Times.

“I said, no, no, I don’t want that, but he pushed me over to the bed,’’ said O’Brien, a former Newsday reporter who was working with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas at the time.

“I tried to shove him,’’ she recalled. “I said no, stop, no, stop, over and over. He pushed further, getting on top of me, pulling off my skirt, and having sex with me against my will.

“Afterward, I remember getting in my car, shaking, to drive home, and looking at my blue-and-white skirt from Express, and thinking why did I have to be wearing a skirt? Because it was Texas in summer,’’ O’Brien said.

“I remember, once I got back to my apartment, drinking a bottle of red wine in a desperate attempt to numb my sadness and rage. Instead, I threw up all over the carpet.’’

I wrote an achingly personal piece that the @nytimes published today on being raped by an @mlb player while I was a sports reporter, and as importantly, on the corrosive atmosphere of sexual harassment that female sports journalists face daily.https://t.co/TylQ0mduNt 1/

— Kat O'Brien (@OBrien_Kat) June 20, 2021

The former journalist said she never reported the 2002 attack because “I knew that if I told anyone what happened that it would ruin my career.”

And she’s not about to give up the name now either.

“I choose not to name him because it would only open me up to the possibility of having dirt thrown on my reputation; even all these years later and in the wake of the #MeToo movement, a former professional athlete wields considerable power,” she wrote in the gut-wrenching column.

“I hope I can help bring about systemic change rather than seek unlikely-to-come justice for one horrible act.”

At the time of the incident Kat worked for the  Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas.

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Twitter reacted to her story:

so it took nearly 20 yrs to get night mares, bs to this

— tom j (@1958beanster) June 20, 2021

Please identify the rapist by name. Thank you.

— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) June 20, 2021

Really powerful essay and similar to what a lot of women go through. Stop blaming the victim! https://t.co/uWnlmeXq38

— The Antidote (@TheAntidote2020) June 21, 2021

Yes, she could have named him. Respect her choice not to. Who is not important. Why is. This is another story about a woman who was sexually assaulted at work. https://t.co/K1JS3Krtys

— Michelle Pace (@michellelpace) June 21, 2021

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS on this… U waited 20 yrs to tell the story and u won't mention the guy's name… That to me, says it didn't happen.

If u really wanna help women, tell ppl who the guy is that attacked u, so they know to stay away from him.

— Rico Blacc (@rico_blacc) June 21, 2021

If you don't name the man….there is no reason to state any of this… you are not protecting women from this guy… you waited 18 years, so he has probably raped again… this op Ed literally does nothing to hold this man accountable

— Opinionated Gamer (@Fate_Klcooper0) June 21, 2021

Maybe if @OBrien_Kat said something 20 years ago others might not have suffered if in fact this mystery man even exists

— flyitlikeustoleit (@flyitlikeustol2) June 21, 2021

I was beat up by a RedSox player 20 years ago. He beat me with a bat but I don’t want to say who it is. Where’s my publicity?? #attentionseeker

— flyitlikeustoleit (@flyitlikeustol2) June 21, 2021

@OBrien_Kat you’re not afraid to tell your story but are afraid to divulge the name? Took almost 20 years? Not buying it. Sorry pic.twitter.com/4yVTulhRny

— flyitlikeustoleit (@flyitlikeustol2) June 21, 2021

https://twitter.com/Shabir46794941/status/1406968097437892612

Why now? Sounds like a bunch of lies…name names and let the guy defend himself…what they do in court…or STFU

— None (@lance85262476) June 20, 2021

This is one of those things that people are going to say whatever they feel. Hard for Twitter users to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, yea?

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