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Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday he will begin his very own boycott of Major League Baseball now that the league is playing partisan politics and moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to Georgia’s new voting law. Governor Abbott didn’t mince words in his letter to Texas Rangers Chief Operating Officer Neil Leibman.
“Thank you for the invitation to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opening game. I was looking forward to it – until Major League Baseball adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about the election law reforms in Georgia, and, based on that false narrative, moved the MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta,” Abbott wrote. “It is shameful that America’s pastime is not only being influenced by partisan political politics, but also perpetuating false political narratives. The State of Texas was proud to help MLB host last season’s National League playoff games and the World Series in Arlington. However, I will not participate in an event held by MLB, and the State will not seek to host the All-Star Game or any other MLB special events.”
Abbott was joined by Florida Senator Marco Rubio in applying pressure on Major League Baseball for its decision in Georgia. Rubio is calling on MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to give up his Augusta National membership to prove how serious he is about opposing Georgia’s new voting law.
I was looking forward to throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers' home opening game until @MLB adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about Georgia's election law reforms.
It is shameful that America's pastime is being influenced by partisan politics. pic.twitter.com/pNJApYBHpw
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 5, 2021
The Texas Rangers Opening Day festivities will roll on without Abbott. A full crowd is expected at Globe Life Field for today’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. It’ll be a typical Opening Day with both national anthems, a moment of silence, a flyover, “God Bless America” during the seventh inning and Budweiser handing out magnetic schedules.
It is wonderful to see you again. pic.twitter.com/ftgfUb7cZQ
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 5, 2021
#OpeningDay Roof Status: OPEN! pic.twitter.com/du5M1lMjUx
— Globe Life Field (@GlobeLifeField) April 5, 2021
Sports should be sports…the minute politics got involved they killed the golden goose.
totally, i’m not sure why its so cool to alienate people and give them the finger…dont need Coke, dont need Delta, dont need Nike, dont need baseball…I dont know whats so hard about staying neutral and giving a neutral statement…are PR people these days too stupid to come up with an ambiguous statement?
Abbott would have been more effective had he rolled out on the infield sporting a Hank Aaron Braves jersey, with the All-Star Patch on the sleeve.
Destantis your up
Warms the heart to see intelligent people fighting back rather than cowering. Manfred and MLB must be suicidal to capriciously choose that hill, built from lies and the Democrats’ absence of integrity, on which to die.
Easily half of all baseball fans favor election integrity and didn’t vote for Biden and his party, yet MLB plows ahead alienating fans by the millions. Their game is horribly flawed these days and now they’re severing what ties might have remained from loyalty and habit.
Even a 180 reversal in position would leave them exposed as possibly too stupid to be worth caring about.
I think Abbott should have thrown out the first pitch, then turn around and leave the stadium. Maybe flip the bird as he’s leaving to any MLB big-shots who were there.
So is the MLB changing their voting rules around Hall of Fame election? I mean, they don’t want to restrict voting, right?
This strikes right into the heart of the perpetually woke. Remember that crowd will only demand others to make sacrifices that they themselves would not contemplate. Good for Governor Abbott and Senator Rubio calling out Manford about his Augusta membership. It would be a purely symbolic gesture which is what the woke crowd likes. So, gee Rob, are you willing to cut the cord?
The problem is marketing teams are led by young liberal nuts. Liberals assume everyone is liberal, like them. They are taught that you must respond to everything and their response usually alienates half of their customer base, or more. Sometimes… no, most times, you should have a policy to say, “we just play Baseball”. Or “we just get our passengers from point A to point B. Then just shut up and don’t respond. If you never respond, they’ll quit asking.