Gov. Greg Abbott decries MLB's dabbling in politics, spurns Texas Rangers' invite to throw out first

[TexasTowelie]

Gov. Greg Abbott decries MLB’s dabbling in politics, spurns Texas Rangers’ invite to throw out first pitch


AUSTIN -- Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday sent a letter to the Texas Rangers declining the baseball club’s invitation to throw out the first pitch at the home opener in Arlington and assailing Major League Baseball’s adoption of “false political narratives” about Georgia’s controversial new election law.

Abbott also said he will no longer participate in any event held by Major League Baseball, and the state will not seek to host the All-Star game or any other MLB special events.

He was reacting to Major League Baseball’s decision to move the league’s All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s new election laws. Republicans such as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the law, say it is needed to prevent voter fraud. However, voting rights activists and Democrats, including President Joe Biden, say the law’s intended to suppress minorities’ participation in elections.

“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 Rangers president and chief operating officer Neil Liebman.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/04/05/gov-greg-abbott-decries-mlbs-dabbling-in-politics-spurns-texas-rangers-invite-to-throw-out-first-pitch/

[Sibelius Fan]

1. Whaaaaaaaaa! MLB is being mean to racists! Whaaaaaaa!

[IA8IT]

2. The virtue of Texas Rangers brings a tear to my eye. Bush and The Texas Land Grab

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/16/opinion/bush-and-the-texas-land-grab.html

I have a stack of court documents from Arlington that portray the ''sordid and shocking tale'' of the Rangers stadium, as one lawsuit puts it. Essentially, Mr. Bush and the owners' group he led bullied and misled the city into raising taxes to build a $200 million stadium that in effect would be handed over to the Rangers. As part of the deal, the city would even confiscate land from private owners so that the Rangers owners could engage in real estate speculation.

''It was a $200 million transfer to Bush and Rangers owners,'' complains Jim Runzheimer, an anti-tax campaigner in Arlington.

William Eastland, a leading Republican in Arlington, is also outraged, and puts it this way: ''You're using public money for a private purpose.'' Mr. Eastland was a Bush delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000 but still believes that the Bush group behaved shadily and against the public interest.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. And let's not forget about the Houston Astros cheating their friggin asses off

Apparently it's only okay when jagoff politicians criticize sports outfits over their politics (i.e. Trump, day in and day out vs. the NFL) ... but the opposite is simply unacceptable!

This is hardly the first time sports leagues have done this sort of thing. For example, the NFL banned holding the Super Bowl in AZ until they made MLK day a holiday and that was like 20 or more years ago.

[IA8IT]

6. V-V-Very selective purity

[LakeArenal]

4. They are such whiney petty babies.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

5. Wouldn't it Be Great

Wouldn't it be great if only Democrats attended MLB and NFL games. We would never have any drunken, swearing, obnoxious fans anymore. We would be able to bring our families again....wouldn't it be great!