Michael Weiner Issues Statement Regarding 2011 All-Star Game
July 9, 2011 by Seamheads · 2 Comments
New York, NY, Friday, July 8, 2011… Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Michael Weiner today issued the following statement regarding the 2011 All-Star Game and related activities to be held in Phoenix, AZ, July 10 – 12.
“The coming All-Star festivities in Phoenix have renewed attention on Arizona’s 2010 immigration initiative, SB 1070. In that light, I make the following statement on behalf of the MLBPA, including its members honored to participate in this year’s All-Star Game.
“On April 30, 2010, the MLBPA expressed publicly its opposition to SB 1070, and that position remains unchanged. We stated then that, if SB 1070 as written went into effect, we would consider additional measures to protect the interests of our members. SB 1070 is not in effect and key portions of the law have been judged unlawful by the federal courts. Under all the circumstances, we have not asked players to refrain from participating in any All-Star activities.
“The All-Star Game is an opportunity to celebrate the best that Major League Baseball has to offer. Without question, the best players are here. Each All-Star squad, as with each of the 30 Major League teams, is populated by the best players from baseball-playing countries around the globe.
“But the All Star Game is a chance to celebrate even more than that. It is a chance to celebrate Major League Baseball’s unprejudiced commitment to excellence – a commitment, undiminished for decades, to judge solely on the basis of individual ability and achievement. It is a chance to celebrate how much the game has been enriched by the contributions of players of different races, ethnicities and nationalities. It’s a chance to celebrate — to marvel, actually — at the example set every time a Major League team takes the field: that of a true team, composed of players of widely different backgrounds, working together towards a common goal.
“Our nation continues to wrestle with serious issues regarding immigration, prejudice and the protection of individual liberties. Those matters will not be resolved at Chase Field, nor on any baseball diamond; instead they will be addressed in Congress and in statehouses and in courts by those charged to find the right balance among the competing and sincerely held positions brought to the debate. Meanwhile, at the All Star Game, Major League Baseball makes good on its promise to field the best in the world in the only way it can — by allowing the world to play. That truly is an occasion to celebrate and, perhaps, from which we all can learn.â€
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Contact: Greg Bouris, MLBPA Director of Communications, 212/826-0808; gbouris@mlbpa.org
Classic Democrat backpedal. Players could have made an important statement and choose not to. The rest is window dressing. Union leadership should not have called on the players to boycott the game–it should not have had to. Guess the world looks different when you are making a ton of money and reach an upper class lifestyle, and don’t want to put any of that at risk.
Had SB1070 gone into effect as originally written, a much stronger response would certainly have been in order, not only for the All-Star Game, but for all MLB games in the statet, not to mention Arizona Rookie League and Arizona Fall League. Besides Latino fans and others, it’s those ballplayers and their families, not the high profile megastars, that would have been potential targets of undue harassment by law enforcement. I’m just hoping for a peaceful 48 hours without any Jan Brewer sightings, but it wouldn’t hurt my feelings in the least if several of the games best and brightest would lend their voice to the cause of diversity and tolerance.