Video published Friday showing Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants, getting into a physical altercation with his wife in which she falls from a chair to the ground in a downtown square has prompted Major League Baseball to say it is looking into the matter.
TMZ Sports first posted video of the physical altercation that happened as the couple was sitting outside having coffee in San Francisco. The video seems to show Baer grabbing a cellphone from his wife, Pam Baer, which leads to her falling out of her chair screaming, "Oh my God!"
The video is noncontinuous and NBC News has not viewed it in full.
Baer in a statement released by the Giants on Friday evening apologized to his family and organization.
"I am truly sorry for the pain that I have brought to my wife, children and to the organization," he said. "It is not reflective of the kind of a person that I aspire to be, but it happened and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that I never behave in such an inappropriate manner again."
Earlier, he issued a joint statement with his wife, Pam, to NBC Bay Area that said, "Regrettably today we had a heated argument in public over a family matter. We are deeply embarrassed by the situation and have resolved the issue."
He told The San Francisco Chronicle in an interview Friday that "my wife and I had an unfortunate public argument related to a family member and she had an injured foot and she fell off her chair in the course of the argument" and that "it was a squabble over a cell phone."
The baseball league said in a statement, "Major League Baseball is aware of the incident and, just like any other situation like this, will immediately begin to gather the facts. We will have no further comment until this process is completed."
A witness told NBC News that the couple appeared to be arguing about what sounded like marital issues and going to counseling. Another witness who works at a nearby juice shop, Khalil Hansen, told NBC News that he heard Baer say "I just want my phone."
A San Francisco police spokesperson said Friday they are aware of the incident and are investigating, and no further details were released at this time. A message to the Giants was not immediately returned Friday.
Larry Baer is a San Francisco native and president and CEO of the storied baseball club.
He was part of the group that assembled local investors in 1992 and purchased the team, just as it was preparing to move to Florida.
At the time of the purchase, the Giants had been a perennial runner-up, having never won a world title while playing in San Francisco.
In less than a decade, the ownership group built a downtown stadium — considered to be a crown jewel of baseball. Then beginning in 2010, the team won a remarkable three world titles in five seasons.
