Milwaukee Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo has done something that I love to see from athletes and really anybody in general. He’s standing up for something that he believes in.
Gallardo has announced that he will boycott the 2011 MLB All Star game in Arizona because of the state’s new immigration law. Gallardo is an All Star this season, but won’t play in Tuesday night’s game due to injury.
The new immigration law in Arizona takes effect on July 29 and requires police, while enforcing other laws, to ask a person’s immigration status if the officer believes that the person might be in this country illegally.
Essentially officers could ask and probably will be asking any person of Latin heritage about their immigration status.
Baseball is a sport that has a high percentage of Latin players and the All Star game being played in Arizona in 2011 is something that will be bothersome to many of those players. Gallardo is the first All Star caliber player to come out and say with all certainly that they will boycott the 2011 All Star game if it isn’t moved to another location. Other players will likely follow suit throughout the next year.
Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria and Detroit Tigers closer Jose Valverde, both All Stars this season, said that they would stay away from the 2011 All Star game as well if there ends up being a Latino protest.
St. Louis Cardinals slugging All Star Albert Pujols has already expressed his dislike for the law and Los Angeles Dodgers All Star shortstop Rafael Furcal said that he would wait for guidance from the player’s union on the situation, according to ESPN.com.
While the controversial Arizona law is a huge talking point for many of the Latin ballplayers, others don’t seem to want to talk about it. New York Yankees All Stars Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez both didn’t have much to say on the subject.
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has said repeatedly that he won’t move the 2011 All Star game to another location.
Personally I think that Selig should move the game to another location. The location that I would choose would be the Washington Nationals new ballpark in Washington, D.C.
If Selig doesn’t move the All Star game from Arizona in 2011 and the immigration law in that state doesn’t change than there is a likelihood that there will be a protest from many, if not all of the Latin ballplayers. The result would be that the “All Star game” really wouldn’t be filled with many “All Stars.” The protest would make the game less exciting, if it even happens at all.
Latin players boycotting the 2011 would probably prove to have a negative reaction among many sports and baseball fans. However, it would be a move that I would support 100 percent. The players should stand up for what they believe is right … and I think that is doing the right thing.
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