Bronx, NY: Latino Sports is a Latino organization with over thirty years of experience covering sports and particularly baseball throughout the country. In our travels, we have experienced discrimination and racism and basically worked around those incidents and continued to focus on our work. We always believed that eventually things would change as the laws and the ability to elect progressive and open-minded elected officials would eventually help erase the inherent racism that has existed in the country. We have also supported many of the issues to register more Latinos and people of color to vote. This is why we were shocked that the Georgia State Legislature would actually pass legislation that is reminiscent to the days of Jim Crow than to the present 2021. In passing these conservative and anti-democratic laws that are clearly nothing but voter suppression on steroids it’s imperative that we all need to speak up.
That is why we are proud that commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. and MLB has made a strong and important statement to move the 2021 All-Star game from the state of Georgia and send a clear message that MLB is not just about entertainment, but also socially and politically conscious of what’s occurring in the country. MLB’s decision to move the All-Star game and being one of the first to speak up against Georgia’s undemocratic and discriminatory voting laws will hopefully send a clear message to the legislators in Georgia that their actions are not acceptable to the rest of the country.
Below is the commissioner’s statement:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STATEMENT REGARDING 2021 ALL-STAR GAME
Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. issued the following statement today regarding the 2021 All-Star Game:
“Over the last week, we have engaged in thoughtful conversations with Clubs, former and current players, the Players Association, and The Players Alliance, among others, to listen to their views. I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box. In 2020, MLB became the first professional sports league to join the non-partisan Civic Alliance to help build a future in which everyone participates in shaping the United States. We proudly used our platform to encourage baseball fans and communities throughout our country to perform their civic duty and actively participate in the voting process. Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support.
“We will continue with our plans to celebrate the memory of Hank Aaron during this season’s All-Star festivities. In addition, MLB’s planned investments to support local communities in Atlanta as part of our All-Star Legacy Projects will move forward. We are finalizing a new host city and details about these events will be announced shortly.”
