Signs that were critical of the Oakland Athletics were edited out of footage on MLB.com. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

MLB edited out signs critical of Oakland A's ownership

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 4/29/23

Major League Baseball does not like it when you criticize its owners, and that was very clear this week with some tricky editing featuring some Oakland A's highlights.

MLB's official website was caught cropping highlight footage of a home run hit by Ryan Noda to remove signs that fans had posted in center field urging team owner John Fisher to sell the team.

Have a look at the comparison of the live game broadcast and the footage that MLB was using.

Notice what is missing?

MLB cropped the video so you can't see all the "sell the team" signs

(h/t @OaklandAUK) pic.twitter.com/HzPZX63zvU
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 29, 2023

That cannot be a coincidence, because nothing about the MLB footage looked even remotely natural. It was super zoomed in on a specific area where it made actually tracking the ball difficult.

After those clips went rival, MLB made a statement saying they were changing the clip to the unedited version.

Matt Kawahara, the A's beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, received the following statement from MLB.

Update: The MLB site now shows the unedited clip of Noda's home run, with right-field fan signs visible.

An MLB spokesperson said: “We were unaware of the edit. When it came to our attention, we corrected it as it isn’t consistent with our policy.” https://t.co/TjKI8xMLvw
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) April 29, 2023

Fisher is one of the most loathed owners in baseball given his lack of investment in the A's and the fact they are headed for a relocation to Las Vegas. It is understandable that A's fans would be fighting back for an ownership change, especially after already losing one professional sports team (the NFL's Raiders) to Las Vegas within the past few years.

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