For the second straight year, the baseball All-Star Game could be subject to change.
Cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Midsummer Classic scheduled for Atlanta July 13 could be relocated because of player displeasure with a new Georgia voting law enacted this week.
So says Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Clark said many players believe the new laws discriminate against minority voters, especially people of color. He also said he has not yet discussed the issue with the Office of the Commissioner but strongly suggested that will happen soon.
We would look forward to having that conversation, Clark told the newspaper Friday. Players are very much aware [of the situation].
Dave Roberts, manager of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the 2021 National League All-Star team, echoed Clarks sentiments. He told media members Friday he might refuse the honorary role if the game is held in Atlanta.
"If it gets to that point," said Roberts, who is both African American and Asian American, "it'll certainly be a decision I'll have to make personally. When you're trying to restrict African-American votes votes of American citizens that's alarming for me to hear.
Along with Dusty Baker of the Houston Astros, Roberts is one of two black managers in the major leagues and one of two to win a World Series. Cito Gaston of the Toronto Blue Jays did it previously.
Roberts said he would have to learn more about the Georgia situation but said he was concerned by what he has heard.
President Joe Biden has heard enough. He slammed the law Friday as an atrocity and Jim Crow in the 21st century. He also said the White House and Justice Department would try to get the law changed and urged Congress to do the same. We don't know quite exactly what we can do at this point, he told reporters on an airport tarmac in Delaware.
With similar bills restricting voting rights pending in nearly two-dozen other states, Biden called them sick and un-American Thursday during his first news conference.
The latest controversy flared after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill that restricts voting by mail, transfers election authority from the Secretary of State to the legislature, ends voting at 5 p.m., and even makes it illegal to offer food or drink to people waiting on line to vote.
The bill, passed by a legislature with a Republican majority, came in reaction to 2020 state elections in which president Donald Trump and incumbent U.S. senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler were all defeated by Democratic opponents heavily supported by non-white voters. Kemp is a Republican. Three recounts confirmed the results.
The All-Star Game has been played in Atlanta twice previously, in 1972 at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium and in 2000 at Turner Field.
The City of Atlanta, Cobb County, and State of Georgia would lose millions if the game is moved. All-Star Week includes such events as FanFest, Home Run Derby, Futures Game, a celebrity softball game, and more plus international television exposure for the region. The Braves told the county, host of the Truist Park game site, that the All-Star event would generate anywhere from $37-$190 million in revenue, according to a memo written by William Volckmann, chief financial officer for Cobb County.
Since the July 13 game would be the first major sporting event held in the aftermath of the pandemic, interest is high. Many Atlanta-area hotels are sold out and restaurants and event venues would benefit enormously, according to Volckmann. To help prepare, the county is spending an estimated $2 million in security arrangements.
There is precedent for moving an All-Star Game for political reasons. The National Basketball Association moved its 2017 game from Charlotte to New Orleans after North Carolina passed laws it considered discriminatory against the LBTGQ community.
The baseball All-Star Game, last held in Cleveland two years ago, was scheduled for Dodger Stadium last year. It will be held there in 2022 instead.
