Baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired by Bristol-based ESPN on Sunday night, less than a week after he admitted having an affair with a production assistant at the cable network.
A representative for Phillips also announced the former Mets general manager was entering a treatment facility “to address his personal issues.”
Phillips’ acknowledgment Wednesday of his relationship with 22-year-old Brooke Hundley was splashed across the New York tabloids for days, embarrassing the sports giant.
“Steve Phillips is no longer working for ESPN,” network spokesman Josh Krulewitz 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.”
Phillips had taken a leave of absence after the affair became public. Krulewitz declined comment when asked Sunday night about Hundley’s status with the company.
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.”
According to a police report filed in Wilton, Hundley began calling Phillips’ wife, Marni, on Aug. 5 after he broke off the affair and sent her a letter graphically describing their relationship and the 46-year-old Phillips’ birthmarks.
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.
