MLB Owes Atlanta, Georgia, An Apology | Bobby Burack

Before the start of the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday night, MLB owes Georgia an apology.

For background, Atlanta was supposed to host the event in 2021, but the league relocated it to Denver, Colorado, after then-President Joe Biden denounced the new Georgia voting act as racist.

"This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end," Biden said in the statement at the time, claiming the new restrictions disproportionately targeted black voters.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred claimed the law restricted voters in his statement addressing the relocation. 

"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," Manfred said. "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."

Now, for some actual facts.

There was nothing ever "Jim Crow" about requiring a photo or state-issued ID to vote by absentee ballot, the main point of emphasis MLB took with the Election Integrity Act of 2021.

The voting law didn't "suppress" voters, either. During the 2022 midterms, Georgia saw record voting turnout, including among black voters. The state outpaced its 2018 midterms by more than 50%. Georgia set a record for voter turnout in 2024.

But Jim Crow in the 21st Century, amirite? Or Jim Eagle, as Biden later called the voting act.

Moreover, the people who suffered most from the relocation were the Atlanta-based business owners, 30% of whom are black.

MLB moved the event from the majority-black Atlanta to the majority-white Denver in purported support of black Americans. For reference, black people account for 51% of the Atlanta population, compared to just 8.8% in Denver.

Got all that?

If not, it gets better. Voting laws in Colorado are more stringent than those in Georgia.

So, what exactly did MLB accomplish by relocating the game four years ago? Put simply, it didn't accomplish anything. The relocation proved to be nothing more than a pitiful attempt to acquiesce to uninformed, pandering sports writers who pressured the league to take a stance against Republican legislation.

Like this mask-wearing journalist below:

As I discussed on Fox News with Will Cain on Tuesday afternoon, MLB ultimately participated in a smear campaign against Georgia by spreading the same baseless, politically motivated propaganda as Joe Biden and other members of the Democratic Party. 

The party, league, and journalists defamed the state by falsely comparing its legislation to laws that willfully enforced racial segregation. It was all a lie.

For that, MLB owes the state, its citizens, and its business owners an apology.