Many were devastated to read about the death of baseball pioneer Oz Sailors at age 31, only to learn nine days later that she was still alive.
The San Francisco Chronicle published an obituary for college pitcher and coach Ghazaleh ‘Oz’ Sailors after the nonprofit Baseball for All announced on June 28 that she had died from a “brain disease.”
The nonprofit said she died surrounded by her family and shared a GoFundMe account to raise money for funeral costs.
But the SF Chronicle later learned that Sailors was alive and living in Easton, Maine, after several people reached out and said they had seen her after her supposed date of death.
On Wednesday, following news of his death, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office conducted a welfare check on Sailors at the request of his family.
The San Francisco Chronicle published an obituary for college pitcher and coach Ghazaleh “Oz” Sailors after the nonprofit Baseball for All announced on June 28 that she had died of a “brain disease.”
The sailors’ brother, Hajir, and a friend received an email from an email address with the name “Baseball Kid.”
The email, signed ‘Oz’, read: ‘Please publicise that I am alive and that my death was announced early and please make me the biggest fraud case of all time.
“All I wanted was to be left alone and they can’t even do that.”
Sailors has reportedly been telling people for over a year that he has “brain stem degeneration.”
Sheriff’s Commander Forrest Dudley said he spoke to the sailors face to face.
Asked by the SF Chronicle why Baseball for All reported Sailors had died, Dudley said, “I’m not going to go into details. We had a conversation about it. Her indication is that she just wants to be left alone.”
The Sailors shared a post on Instagram from a baseball field on May 6 that read in part: ‘Grateful to have said goodbye to baseball on the field that means the most to me. Grateful to have been surrounded by family and friends… Grateful to have finished this fight as an owl. Thank you Jesus for everything.’
Sailors has reportedly been telling people for over a year that he has “brain stem degeneration.”
The Sailors joined the U.S. women’s national baseball team at age 17 before heading to Maine-Presque Isle for college.
That post came six weeks after Sailor’s brother and mother received a text message from a man Sailor previously claimed was her husband telling them she had died of breast cancer.
Shortly after receiving the text message, Oz called his mother and told her he was safe before quickly hanging up.
Sailors has been estranged from her family for years and in 2014 accused her parents of unspecified abuse when she was a high school senior. Her family denied the allegations.
Then, on June 5, a GoFundMe page created by a woman named Kristan Hammonds asked for “Support for the Oz Sailors.”
“I think he had a nervous breakdown,” his mother told the SF Chronicle.
The sailors had also reportedly been asking their friends for money in recent months.
Then, on June 5, a GoFundMe page created by a woman named Kristan Hammonds asked for “Support for the Oz Sailors.”
The caption read: ‘My friend, Oz Sailors, was dealt a life-sized curveball and her loved ones need our support!’
Another sentence was then added: “This GoFundMe is to help pay for funeral expenses.”
That fund has raised $3,145 and is no longer accepting donations.
The sailors had also reportedly been asking their friends for money in recent months.
Sailors is known as a pioneer in baseball and at one point was believed to be the only female head college baseball coach in the country. At times, she was also the only woman playing in men’s leagues.
Asked about GoFundMe, Commander Dudley said: “If someone were to make a complaint, that’s something we would look into.
“There are no complaints at the moment.”
Sailors is known as a pioneer in baseball and at one point was believed to be the only female head college baseball coach in the country.
Sometimes she was also the only woman playing in men’s leagues.
She joined the U.S. women’s national baseball team at age 17 before heading to Maine-Presque Isle for college.
His professional career included leagues in Canada, Australia, Japan and Korea.
