Each year the MLB All-Star is always hosted in a popular city and different state. This year it was suppose to be hosted in Atlanta, Ga., but the MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, decided to move the All-Star game out of Atlanta.
On Mar. 26, Georgia Governor Brain Kemp signed a legislation that was passed by both houses of a Republican-led overhaul of state elections. They will be rolling back voting by mail and absentee ballot efforts. They will even ban the distribution of food and water to the people who are standing in line to vote.
President Joe Biden called the new Georgia bill “sick” and “un-American” and that he would support the MLB moving the Midsummer Classic out of Atlanta.
With these new restrictions, it is going to become harder for people of color to vote. This is called “voter suppression.”
Manfred said, “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
MLB is not the only league that has taken a stand against discrimination. Other leagues that have gone through this situation. The NBA decided to move their 2017 All-Star game out of Charlotte, NC., due to a state legislation that discriminates the transgender community and in the NFL.
The league decided to move the 1993 Super Bowl out of Arizona after the state refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day as a holiday.
The Atlanta Braves franchise felt “very disappointed” about the MLB’s decision to move the All-Star out of Atlanta.
“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,” the Braves officials said. The only victims who are hurting the most are the people of Georgia.
On April 6, it was announced that the MLB 2021 All-Star game will be hosted in Denver, Co., at Coors Field, where it last hosted the MLB All-Star game in 1998. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswald said that she praised the MLB for it’s decision to have the Midsummer Classic in Colorado.
Not many baseball players commented on the All-Star game being moved out of Atlanta, but other sports players outside of baseball praised the MLB for their decision.
Lebron James, who became part owner of the Boston Red Sox, said on Twitter, “Proud to call myself a part of the @mlb family today.”
Former New York Yankee Derek Jeter, who is now CEO of the Miami Marlins, said, “The act of participating in our country’s election process is our civic responsibility and instrumental to our country’s foundation.”
Jeter also noted that in the recent election, the Miami Marlins with their Election Feed Day initiative, handed out about 4,000 meals at two polling places in Liberty City and Little Havana.