Major League Baseball declared commonsense election reforms to be against its values last week. The sports league decided to move its summer All-Star game from Atlanta after Georgia’s legislature passed an election integrity bill. Joe Biden and his media allies claim the bill is “Jim Crow on steroids,” even though it merely requires voter ID for mail-in ballots and other sensible changes. This disinformation campaign persuaded the MLB and other corporations to attack the Georgia bill, with the pro sports league taking the extra step of pulling the All-Star game.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a press statement. Many teams, including the Florida Marlins and Baltimore Orioles, applauded the league’s decision. The MLB sent a loud and clear message to conservatives: we despise your values and we will use our power to further Democratic Party objectives.
There’s only one proper response to the MLB: boycott ’em.
Some conservatives scoff at the idea of boycotts. They don’t like politics intruding into their pastime, but that doesn’t mean they will do anything about the intrusion. Some just want to enjoy the sport because it connects them with family, friends, and their local communities. It’s a lifetime interest and it defines who they are. It’s just not something they want to give up, no matter how much they disagree with the MLB’s decision.
This is an understandable reaction. If conservatives boycotted everything that conflicted with their opinions, we would not be able to buy most essential products and we would have few options for entertainment. But this is not about protesting people who merely disagree with us. This is about sending a message to a giant corporation that feels it can take conservative fans for granted as it stomps on our faces.
Conservatives should have done this last year when the league turned itself into a propaganda arm of Black Lives Matter. BLM was stenciled on pitchers’ mounds, several players wore BLM paraphernalia, and teams took a knee during the national anthem. Several teams took the additional step of outwardly endorsing BLM and its sinister agenda. The Boston Red Sox put up a “Black Lives Matter” billboard right next to their stadium. The Tampa Bay Rays issued tweets that displayed a black power fist, complained about “systemic racism,” and demanded murder charges for the cops who shot Breonna Taylor.
Later in the season, multiple teams boycotted play to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (It turned out Blake was armed and police were cleared of wrongdoing.)
Some conservatives did turn off the MLB, as league ratings tanked last year. But the league, unfortunately, didn’t get the message.
The All-Star game pullout is an escalation because it’s intended to financially damage its intended targets. The MLB presents itself as a weapon liberals may use to punish their enemies. This is part of the league’s “values,” and there are no brakes on where it could be used next. By this precedent, the MLB could seek to punish red states for anything that runs afoul of progressive orthodoxy. The league could pull events from states that defund sanctuary cities or zealously enforce immigration law. The league could demand states change the name of Columbus Day to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” or else lose their perks. (The NFL moved the 1993 Super Bowl from Arizona over the state’s refusal to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.) The possibilities are endless . . . unless conservatives make Major League Baseball pay.
MLB feels it has to cater to liberal interests. The league believes that no matter what it does, conservatives will stick with it. And revenue depends on that bet. MLB fans lean Republican, a fact that sits awkwardly with the league’s current trajectory. Based on its latest actions, one would believe baseball fans are predominately Media Matters staffers. Everything the MLB does is designed to appease one demographic: affluent white liberals. The majority of its actual fans can go to hell.
The logical response is to tell the league to go to hell. Turn off the TV. Don’t buy any more MLB merchandise. Don’t subject yourself to the indignities of going to a baseball game. It’s rich for a league to say voter ID is racist while requiring fans to offer full proof of vaccination and negative antibody tests just to attend a game. The league should be boycotted for that reason alone. If you’re willing to endure all this and sit outside, double-masked, to watch the Mets lose, then the MLB is right to not respect you.
Conservatives will only win if they can subject institutions like the MLB to serious pain. The league needs to know it can’t stick its thumb on the political process and go unscathed. It needs to face serious consequences. Make those ratings plummet even further, make merchandise sales evaporate, and make ticket sales nonexistent. Republican lawmakers should follow Representative Jeff Duncan’s (R-S.C.) lead and look at ways to punish the league through legislation. Strip the MLB of antitrust protections and rescind taxpayer dollars for brand new stadiums.
Only when the MLB fears the Right more than it fears the Left will we be able to enjoy a ballgame once again. Until then, play baseball with your family instead of watching millionaires play it on your TV.