Knepper Will Apologize to Women

Bob Knepper of the Houston Astros said Friday night he would apologize at a news conference today for referring to the National Organization for Women as “blowhards and lesbians” in a published article earlier this week.

“It’s a statement I should not have made,” Knepper said between games of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves Friday night. “I need to apologize to some people.”

Knepper was quoted in this week’s Sports Illustrated as saying: “NOW is such a blowhard organization. They are a bunch of lesbians. Their focus has nothing to do with women’s rights. It had everything to do with women wanting to be men.”

He said he told Astro officials that if the article “comes out the way it sounds like . . . I want a press conference and I want to apologize, because it’s wrong.”

Knepper’s first controversial comments about women were made March 14 after umpire Pam Postema worked home plate in a spring training game. He said she did a good job, but then said that women shouldn’t be umpires.