On Friday, Major League Baseball chose to cave in to the faux moral outrage of the American left-wing by removing this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta over objections to the new Georgia vote integrity law signed into law last week. In addition, the league also announced it will relocate the MLB draft, which was scheduled to take place in July in Atlanta.
According to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, the decision to punish Georgia baseball fans over the actions of their legislature and Governor Brian Kemp was “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.”
The decision was reportedly made after consultation with the teams, current and former players, and the MLB Players Association.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred said in a statement. “We proudly use 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.”
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In their own statement, the Players Alliance — a group made up of current and past Black MLB players — echoed Manfred’s words and promised to be yet another loud and distracting voice in the fight against vote integrity.
“We want to make our voice loud and clear in our opposition of the recent Georgia legislation that not only disproportionately disenfranchises the Black community, but also paves the way for other states to pass similarly harmful laws based largely on widespread falsehoods and disinformation.”
The Atlanta Braves organization, which had originally been selected to host this years’ game, signaled their disappointment in MLB’s decision to move the event.
“This was neither our decision, nor our recommendation and we are saddened that fans will not be able to see this event in our city,” a statement from the team read. “Unfortunately, businesses, employees and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision.”
President Joe Biden has referred to the new Georgia voting integrity law as “Jim Crow on steroids.” Stacey Abrams, the Democrat loser of the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election who has long blamed “voter suppression” for that loss called the law “ a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie.”
What the bill actually does is increase the early voting window, giving citizens more time to vote. In addition it requires voters to show an ID for absentee voting and strengthens electioneering laws by banning political activists from giving out food and drinks while voters wait in line for voting.
Georgia was the scene of some of the most contentious election bickering from the 2020 election with accusations flying back and forth about the mishandling of ballots and an unwillingness to do hand audits of ballots with signature verification. After such a disaster of a general election, why wouldn’t the state wish to tighten their standards a little?
Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican who was a frequent target of former President Donald Trump’s outrage in the weeks before the inauguration of Biden, defended the new law and called the decision by MLB to move the All-Star Game an “attack” on Georgia.
According to Kemp, “this attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections.”
“I will not back down. Georgians will not be bullied. We will continue to stand up for secure, accessible, fair elections,” Kemp stated.
Georgia’s House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican, specifically called out Abrams. “Stacey Abrams’ leftist lies have stolen the All-Star Game from Georgia,” Ralston declared. “This decision is not only economically harmful, it also robs Georgians of a special celebration of our national pastime free of politics.”
But Ralston too, signaled his defiance of the left-wing mob that looks to harass people into compliance when they can’t win legislatively.
“But Georgia will not be bullied by socialists and their sympathizers. We will continue to stand for accessible, secure elections that are free and fair. And we will continue to speak truth despite extortion and intimidation.”
“Extortion and intimidation” are exactly right. Major League Baseball — along with Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola, two of the state’s biggest corporations who are now voicing their displeasure about the new law — are engaging in simple blackmail, which is supposed to be a crime in America. It’s nothing but simple and extreme coercion as a means to overturn the actions of an elected governor and legislature.
