Bartolo Colon has become baseball’s lovable big guy over the years. With his teddy bear persona and the occasional surprising displays of Old Fat Guy Athleticism (see here and here), he’s frequently sent the entire baseball world into fits of pure joy. However, the most recent story surrounding the New York Mets starter is not quite as fun as the ones we’ve come to expect.
According to the New York Post, Colon has been taken to court by a mistress who he has two secret children with. The suit claims that the 42-year-old pitcher, who is married to his wife of 21 years, hasn’t been paying child support for his secret 7-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.
The 42-year-old hurler has been dragged into Manhattan court by Alexandra Santos, 38, who claims the $7 million-a-year player is a deadbeat dad who failed to pay child support for their elementary-school-age kids.
Colon — who has earned more than $100 million in his career — sired the children with the Washington Heights woman while he was also playing the dutiful family man with wife Rosanna and their four sons.
Though the pitcher has never publicly acknowledged his secret family and the court case is listed as “Anonymous v. Anonymous,” he accidentally outed himself by acting as his own lawyer.
It was Colon’s own fault that his cover was blown. Because he briefly represented himself in the custody dispute, his name was listed as an attorney in the case, sabotaging the “anonymous” shield the former couple had been granted by a judge.
Perhaps there’s no truth to the whole thing, but if there is this “deadbeat dad” claim certainly casts a dark shadow over a guy who has basically become baseball’s ageless national treasure in the past handful of years.
