OAKLAND — As the Oakland Ballers baseball team fights for status in the Pioneer League, team leaders are fighting a battle of their own, as some of the players’ representatives publicly accuse the team of mistreating them.
On Friday, July 22, the Oakland Ballers released a not-so-baseball-related, damage-control statement to their fans, in which the team said, “We continue to work hard every day to build a great team. We always knew there would be setbacks and difficult days along the way.”
This was in response to criticism leveled at the team by professional sports agent Ronnie Murray, who posted comments on Twitter saying he had requested and been granted trades for Trevor Halsema, Austin Davis and Myles Jefferson, all of whom suffered season-ending torn ligaments.
“It makes me really wonder how they really feel about their players,” Murray said in an interview. “I’ve always looked at players as individuals, and I wonder if they just look at them as property.”
Murray said the injured Jefferson player went without medical attention for two and a half months and ultimately had to pay for an MRI out of her own pocket, and she took her concerns to former head coach Micah Franklin.
“Micah said, ‘Ronnie, hold on a second, I’m going to meet with the owner,'” Murray said. “Great. And he told me, ‘I’ve met with the owner, give me a few days to sort this out.’ A few days later, Micah was fired.”
There were also safety concerns, and the team’s lodgings were changed twice after three street crimes against players occurred within a week. The team would not comment on the trade or the reasons for Franklin’s firing, but Ballers co-founder Paul Friedman said the complaints appeared to be coming from one voice.
“We have an agent who has filed a complaint about the situation of players on our team,” he said. “We take the subject of that complaint very seriously. The safety of our players is extremely important to us. The health of our players is extremely important to us. I believe the facts show that we took those matters extremely seriously.”
Friedman said to his knowledge Jefferson suffered a minor injury on June 4 and a more serious injury in July. The team is still investigating what happened, but Friedman said the owners felt it was important to address the allegations.
“Our fans wanted a statement from us. They wanted to hear from us about what was going on,” Friedman said. “There’s been a lot of confusion and rumors swirling, so we felt it was our duty to use our voice to tell the story of what was going on.”
From the beginning, the Oakland Ballers have been marketed as a team that is committed to the community, so they feel an obligation to be more transparent than other teams in similar situations, Friedman said.
“This wouldn’t happen with any other independent team in the country. It wouldn’t happen with most minor league teams in the country. In a way, we take it as an honor because I think it’s proof that we’re really building something bigger and more special.”
Ballers officials said they would provide information on the Trevor Halsema-Austin Davis trade on Monday, per league rules. Myles Jefferson has been released by the team due to a season-ending injury, the official said.
