ESPN analyst Steve Phillips fired over sex scandal, heads to rehab

Baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired by ESPN Sunday night, less than a week after he admitted to an affair with a production assistant.   Phillips’ acknowledgment Wednesday of his relationship with 22-year-old Brooke Hundley whom he met when the two were working at the All-Star Game in St. Louis, was not unlike David Letterman’s situation but big difference in the outcome.  According to a police report filed in Wilton, Conn., Hundley began calling Phillips’ wife, Marni, on Aug. 5 after he broke off the affair and sent her a letter graphically describing their relationship.  Marni Phillips called police Aug. 19 when she came home to find Hundley in her driveway. “I knew instinctively that this was the woman Steve was involved with and I was terrified,” she wrote in a statement to police.
Hundley also contacted Phillips’ 16-year-old son through his Facebook account, according to the police report.  Marni Phillips filed for divorce Sept. 14, according to court records.
The network made the announcement last night during Game 6 of the ALCS championship Yankees versus Angels, which Phillips normally would have been analyzing in a TV studio.

“Steve Phillips is no longer working for ESPN,” the network said in a statement.
“His ability to be an effective representative for ESPN has been significantly and irreparably damaged, and it became evident it was time to part ways.”
Steve Lefkowitz, Phillips’ representative, said in an e-mail that his client “is voluntarily admitting himself to an inpatient treatment facility to address his personal issues, and informed ESPN of his plans Friday.”
In 1998, Steve Phillips admitted having sex with a Mets employee, who sued for sexual harassment. That case was settled out of court. Phillips was fired by the Mets in 2003.