OAKLAND, CA – JUNE 3: Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane and Managing Partner John Fisher of the Oakland Athletics sit in the Athletics draft room, during the opening day of the 2019 MLB draft, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on June 3, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has decided to pay his team's minor league players after all, saying he made a mistake.
Club spokeswoman Catherine Aker confirmed Fisher's plans Friday, when the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the billionaire's intentions and quoted his apology. Fisher also is establishing a fund to help furloughed employees, Aker said.
Late last month, the A's placed their scouts and a significant number of other front office employees on furlough, suspended pay for minor leaguers and cut the salaries of other executives as part of a cost-cutting move in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I concluded I’d made a mistake,” Fisher told the Chronicle.
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Minor leaguers will receive their $400 weekly stipends through what would have been the conclusion of their season.
Fisher, whose family founded the clothing retailer Gap Ltd., is worth more than $2 billion, Forbes estimated.
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