A photo depicting food provided to some Oakland Athletics minor leaguers went viral on Tuesday, sparking references to the infamous Fyre Festival that allegedly once offered sandwich bread with sliced cheese for dinner.
Pictures of the food were shared through a Twitter account run by Advocates for Minor Leaguers, an organization fighting on behalf of minor league players for fair pay and better working conditions.
Players in the Oakland A’s organization shared these photos of their recent post-game meals.
No employer would serve these meals to employees they care about. Why are the A’s serving them to their future Major Leaguers? pic.twitter.com/cIFqiPg6iX
— Advocates for Minor Leaguers (@MiLBAdvocates) June 1, 2021
In a reply to the tweet, Athletics president Dave Kaval called the food “totally unacceptable” and said the team terminated its agreement with the third-party vendor that provided it to players “several weeks ago.”
The A’s echoed Kaval’s sentiments in a statement, saying: “Several weeks ago, we were made aware of the postgame meals being served to players in our Minor League system. Those options were completely unacceptable and by no means meet our quality standards. We immediately ended our relationship with that third party vendor.”
The first photo dates back to May 18, when the A’s Double-A affiliate was on the road playing in Amarillo, Texas, sources told ESPN. But the second photo is believed to be more recent and from a different affiliate in the A’s minor league system.
“I appreciate Mr. Kaval’s prompt acknowledgement that these meals are unacceptable and his promise to do better going forward,” Advocates for Minor Leaguers executive director Harry Marino said in a statement to ESPN. “Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated incident in Minor League baseball. Each and every day, I hear directly from players about the myriad ways in which they are being mistreated. While players are too scared to speak publicly, for fear of retaliation, their stories need to be heard. I would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with Mr. Kaval or any other MLB representative who would like to hear these stories and work together to better the game of baseball for players at all levels.”