MLB players’ families grapple with rising online threats as sports betting surges

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON AP Soon after Lance McCullers Jr s family received online death threats following a tough start by the Houston Astros pitcher his -year-old daughter Ava overheard wife Kara talking on the phone about it What followed was a painful conversation between McCullers and his little girl She petitioned me when I came home Daddy like what is threats Who wants to hurt us Who wants to hurt me McCullers reported The Associated Press on Wednesday So those conversations are tough to deal with McCullers is one of two MLB pitchers whose families have received online death threats this month as internet abuse of players and their families is on the rise Boston reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media soon after the development with McCullers to call out people who were threatening his wife s life and directing vile comments at him The Astros contacted MLB protection and the Houston Police Department following the threats to McCullers An police spokesperson revealed Thursday that it remains an ongoing study McCullers who has two young daughters took immediate action after the threats and hired -hour precaution for his family You have to at that point he reported Milwaukee Brewers Christian Yelich gestures after hitting a walk off grand slam during the th inning of a baseball championship against the Boston Red Sox Tuesday May in Milwaukee AP Photo Aaron Gash Abuse increasing with rise in sports gambling Players from around the league agree that online abuse has gotten progressively worse in current years Milwaukee s Christian Yelich a -year MLB veteran and the NL MVP announced receiving online abuse is a nightly thing for majority players I think over the last inadequate years it s definitely increased he commented It s increased to the point that you re just All right here we go It doesn t even really register on your radar anymore I don t know if that s a good or a bad thing You re just so used to that on a day-to-day night-to-night basis It s not just me It s everybody in here based on performance And various players believe it s directly linked to the rise in legalized sports betting You get a lot of DMs or stuff like that about you ruining someone s bet or something ridiculous like that veteran Red Sox reliever Justin Wilson disclosed I guess they should make better bets Boston Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks celebrates after the final out of a baseball encounter against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park Friday May in Boston AP Photo Charles Krupa Hendriks has had enough Hendriks a -year-old reliever who previously battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma explained on Instagram that he and his wife received death threats after a loss to the Mets He added that people left comments saying that they wished he would have died from cancer among other abusive comments He later discussed the issue and his decision to speak out about it Enough is enough he disclosed Like at particular point everyone just like sucking up and dealing with it isn t accomplishing anything And we pass along to precaution We pass along to whoever we need to but nothing ends up happening And it happens again the next night And so at specific point someone has to make a stand And it s one of those things where the more eyes we get on it the more voices we get talking about it Hopefully it can push it in the right direction What teams are doing Both the Astros and the Red Sox are working with MLB safety to take action against social media users who direct threats toward players and their families Red Sox spokesperson Abby Murphy added that they ve taken actions in contemporary years to make sure participant families are safe during games That includes assurance staff and Boston police stationed in the family section at home and dedicated measure in the traveling party to monitor the family section on the road Murphy declared identifying those who make anonymous threats online is hard but both the Red Sox and MLB have cyber programs and analysts dedicated to identifying and removing these accounts The Astros have uniformed police officers stationed in the family section a practice that was implemented well before the threats to McCullers and his family Abandoning social media For particular players online abuse has gotten so bad that they ve abandoned social media Detroit All-Star outfielder Riley Greene is one of them saying he got off because he received so multiple messages from people blaming him for failed bets I deleted it he announced of Instagram I m off it It sucks but it s the world we live in and we can t do anything about it People would DM me and say nasty things tell me how bad of a performer I am and say nasty stuff that we don t want to hear Criticism is part of the challenge threats are not The -year-old McCullers who returned this year after missing two full seasons with injuries declared dealing with this has been the worst thing that s happened in his career He understands the passion of fans and knows that being criticized for a poor performance is part of the championship But he believes there s a moral line that fans shouldn t cross People should want us to succeed he declared We want to succeed but it shouldn t come at a cost to our families the kids in our life having to feel like they re not safe where they live or where they sit at games Related Articles Rockies swept by Cubs drop to - as historically bad start continues Rockies sign veteran infielder Orlando Arcia to major league deal Rockies Mailbag What s at root of terrible record youth movement or bad veterans Rockies lose in innings to Cubs extend worst start in MLB s modern era Rockies follow familiar formula in loss to Cubs fall to - Houston manager Joe Espada was livid when he learned about the threats to McCullers and his family and was visibly upset when he addressed what happened with reporters Espada added that the crew has mental fitness professionals available to the players to talk about the toll such abuse takes on them and any other issues they may be dealing with We are aware that when we step on the field fans expect and we expect the best out of ourselves Espada explained this week But when we are trying to do our best and things don t go our way while we re trying to give you everything we got and now you re threatening our families and kids now I do have a big issue with that right I just did not like it Kansas City Royals designated hitter Salvador Perez right celebrates his RBI single against the Minnesota Twins during the fifth inning of baseball competition Saturday May in Minneapolis AP Photo Matt Krohn Kansas City s Salvador Perez a -year MLB veteran hasn t experienced online abuse but was appalled by what happened to McCullers If something like that happened to him he commented it would change the way he interacts with fans Now specific fans real fans they re gonna pay for that too he explained Because if I was him I wouldn t take a picture or sign anything for noboby because of that one day McCullers wouldn t go that far but admitted it has changed his mindset It does make you kind of shell up a little bit he stated It does make you kind of not want to go places I guess that s just likely the human reaction to it Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr reacts after Athletics Jacob Wilson s home run during the fifth inning of a baseball competition Wednesday May in Houston AP Photo Karen Warren Finding a approach While majority players have dealt with various level of online abuse in their careers no one has a good idea of how to stop it I m thankful I m not in a position where I have to find a remedy to this Tigers pitcher Tyler Holton noted But as a person who is involved in this I wish this wasn t a topic of conversation White Sox outfielder Mike Tauchman is disheartened at how bad athlete abuse has gotten While it s mostly online he added that he s had teammates that have had racist and homophobic things yelled at them during games Outside of just completely not having social media I really don t see that getting better before it just continues to get worse he declared I mean I think it s kind of the way things are now Like people just feel like they have the right to say whatever they want to whoever they want and it s behind a keyboard and there s really no repercussions right AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick and AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen Kyle Hightower Larry Lage and Steve Megargee contributed to this summary