All- Star Game being moved
Midsummer Classic pulled from Atlanta over new voting law
Major League Baseball announced Friday it was moving this summer’s All-star Game from Atlanta’s Truist Park, a response to Georgia enacting a new law last month restricting voting rights.
MLB had awarded the game to Atlanta in May 2019 and the game was scheduled for July 13 as part of baseball’s midsummer break. This year’s event is set include the Futures Game on July 11 and Home Run Derby the following night.
Commissioner Rob Manfred made the decision to move the All-star events and the amateur draft, which had been scheduled to be held in Atlanta for the first time.
A new ballpark for this year’s events wasn’t immediately revealed.
MLB’S announcement came eight days after
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.
Manfred made the decision after discussions with the Major League Baseball Players Association, individual players and the Players Alliance, an organization of Black players formed after the death of George Floyd last year.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s Allstar Game and MLB draft,” Manfred said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
“Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support,” Manfred said.
Other sports have moved high-profile events because of social issues.
In the early 1990s, the NFL shifted the Super Bowl out of Arizona after the state failed to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day an official holiday.
The NBA moved the 2017 All-star Game out of Charlotte, N.C., when the league took issue with a state law that cut antidiscrimination protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The NCAA for years didn’t hold championships in states where the Confederate battle flag was officially recognized.
This year’s All-star Game will include honoring Hank Aaron, the Braves’ Hall of Famer and former career home run champion who died on Jan. 22 at age 86.
“We will continue with our plans to celebrate the memory of Hank Aaron during this season’s Allstar festivities,” Manfred said. “In addition, MLB’S planned investments to support local communities in Atlanta as part of our All-star legacy projects will move forward. We are finalizing a new host city and details about these events will be announced shortly.”
Orioles 3, Red Sox 0: John Means pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, allowing a single to lead off the game and retiring the last 18 batters he faced on Friday to lead Baltimore over Boston in their rain-delayed opener. Means struck out five and allowed just two baserunners — the other on an error — earning the win when Ryan Mountcastle doubled in two runs in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie.
Mets-nationals: The entire season-opening three-game series between Washington and New York was called off because of a COVID-19 outbreak on the 2019 World Series champions, who had four players test positive and another five quarantining after contact tracing. The Nationals announced the postponement of games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at their stadium.
Rays 6, Marlins 4: Joey Wendle hit a three-run homer, highlighting a four-run rally in the ninth inning that sent Tampa Bay over Miami.
Note: More than 28 percent of Major League Baseball players were born outside the 50 states. That represents a drop for the fourth straight season, although this decrease was particularly small. MLB said there were 256 such players of the 906 on opening day rosters, injured lists, the restricted list and the paternity list.