Heroes Foundation includes, then removes, Danny Bollinger from celebrity baseball game roster

Danny Bollinger, a former Mavericks team photographer who was fired last September after sexual harassment allegations, was originally included on one of the rosters for the Heroes Foundation Celebrity Baseball Game, which takes place Friday in Frisco. The Foundation has since revised the roster with Bollinger removed and he will not be playing in the game, the Foundation confirmed to Mavs Moneyball.

When the Heroes Foundation released the roster late Sunday afternoon, Bollinger’s name was on the White Sox team.

I reached out to the Foundation through several channels once Bollinger’s name showed up. The organization responded to a Facebook message, saying Bollinger would not be playing on Friday.

“He has played in the game in the past, but he is not playing in Friday’s game,” the Foundation said in the Facebook message. “I think you already have the correct roster. If not you can find it on our (Facebook) and Twitter. Thank you.”

Before this message was sent, the Foundation removed both the original tweet and Facebook post, replacing them with the updated rosters without Bollinger’s name.

Bollinger was fired last September, after the Mavericks sexual harassment investigation ended. The Dallas Morning News then published a story of the allegations against Bollinger, after which the Mavericks sent Bollinger home before firing him. The Morning News reported that Bollinger’s name was given to investigators during the initial investigation.

The details of Bollinger’s alleged transgressions in the Morning News weren’t pretty:

Two say Bollinger propositioned them for sex multiple times, and one said he showed her inappropriate photos while at work of Mavericks dancers and female fans sitting in the front row at games.

Both Mark Cuban and Cynthia Marshall said at the time that Bollinger’s firing was not a response to the Morning News story, just that the Mavericks were still internally investigating the claims.

“To suggest that the Mavs hid anything or didn’t take an action for any reason, any whatsoever, is to claim that you believe that Cynt and the professionals she brought in are not capable of doing their jobs,” Cuban told the Morning News. “They have, they are and will continue to do the jobs they know how to do and continue to have carte blanche to make any personnel decisions they feel the need to make in accordance with the guidelines they defined, not what any outside organization feels they should be.”

Dirk Nowitzki has been hosting the game for the Foundation for years, with proceeds benefiting this charity and The Dirk Nowitzki Foundation. The Heroes Foundation and the Mavericks are separate entities, with the baseball game not being a Mavericks event. Even then, I reached out to Mavericks PR for more information about Bollinger’s name being on the initial roster as the Mavericks have promoted the celebrity baseball game for years. They have not responded at the time of publication.