On June 13, 2023, a powerful protest by then-Oakland Athletics’ fans took place at the former Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, home to the MLB team. As the two-year anniversary approached, though, fans went to MLB.TV hoping to revisit the excitement but found nothing.
The entire radio and video archive of that game between the Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays reportedly has disappeared. Curiously, all other Athletics’ broadcasts from June 2023 are still available. It’s almost as if that remarkable night was intentionally removed.
Reverse Boycott Game Removal by MLB Raises Questions
The “Reverse Boycott” was a calculated response to having been ignored by long-time Athletics team owner John Fisher. After almost two decades as Athletics’ owner, Fisher now focused his attention on moving the team to Las Vegas. The fans had been driven away as Fisher chose not to invest in both his team and the stadium.
Organized by grassroots groups, like “Last Dive Bar” and “Oakland 68s,” the protest involved nearly 30,000 supporters filling the Coliseum during a weekday game.
Fans arrived hours before game time and created tailgate parties and wore Kelly-green T-shirts that read “SELL” and carried self-created placards that either requested Fisher to sell the team or keep it in Oakland.
The fifth inning began quietly at the Coliseum as the Rays got up to bat in their half of the inning. Anyone there felt the tension until it reached a breaking point when people chanted in loud voices “Sell the team!” The Athletics beat the Rays 2-1, giving them seven consecutive victories at that time.
Athletics closer Trevor May said after the game that the Oakland crowd was like a playoff game in New York. May knows about playing in New York as he has also pitched for the Mets. This is one of many great Coliseum memories and it remains so even after MLB reportedly removed the entire game from its digital books.
The MLB.TV link is now just a greyed-out missing link with the game both unplayable and unsearchable. Athletics fans were directed to another game via the radio feed provided by the “A’s Cast.” Which game was it? An Athletics’ June 12, 2023, game involving now-former Athletics starting pitcher James Kaprielian and Rays’ starter Zach Eflin.
As noted by Jason Burke from SI.com, “For those that were hoping to re-live the moment on the anniversary this year, they were greeted with a missing link to the game footage.”
A closer investigation by Alex Simon of SFGATE.com revealed the extent of the erasure. “An SFGATE analysis found the Rays-A’s game on June 13, 2023 is the only MLB game in the entire month of June 2023 where the broadcasts are unavailable for viewing on the MLB.TV archive,” Simon wrote.
“When you click on ‘A’s Cast’ to listen to the radio feed, it’s linked to the previous day’s game, which is James Kaprielian going for the A’s, and Zach Eflin for the Tampa Bay Rays.”
Bryan Johansen, a co-founder of “Last Dive Bar,” mentioned that they spotted the removal when they were getting anniversary highlight clips ready for social media.
In an Instagram post, Johansen wrote, “One deplorable thing @mlb did regarding the #ReverseBoycott is completely wipe it from their database. The game was completely wiped from both TV & Radio for that game ‘only’.”
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“Speaks volumes about MLB’s insecurities that they’d go through the trouble of deleting it from their game archives.” Johansen wrote.
Michael Dixon of Awful Announcing criticized MLB’s erasure, saying that “two years after the reverse boycott, it appears as though MLB doesn’t want its fans to be able to see the game.” He noted this as the June 13, 2023, game remains the only missing broadcast amid hundreds that month, making a tech glitch seem improbable.
Outrage was widespread. On Reddit’s r/baseball, one fan stated:
“Just another insulting gesture to Oakland fans. It’s insane that some folks… still try to justify this entire relocation fiasco.”
Another fan replied simply, “This is a disgrace to the sport.”
This is a disgrace to the sport
— Jackson (@jsphilly16) June 14, 2025
There were reports that protest signs calling for Fisher to sell were edited out of the highlight packages. Now, the entire game has vanished. It seems the plan is to erase any evidence of opposition.
Although it’s no longer on MLB.TV, the night is still alive in some ways. The Baseball Hall of Fame has kept physical items from the protest: A “SELL” T-shirt and a poster, marking the event’s importance. Without video accessible to the public, it’s possible that future generations might not get to observe and feel the moment’s raw energy.