At the Arizona Republic, "SB 1070 Stirs MLB All-Star Game Debate":
On the eve of baseball's annual All-Star Game, much of the conversation Monday was focused on next year's game in Phoenix and the state's controversial immigration law.But from Commissioner Selig's interview at LAT yesterday:
Inside the Anaheim Marriott, All-Star players were voicing their opposition to Senate Bill 1070 - some more vehemently than others - as they readied for the sport's first major event since the law's passage. Outside, protesters called for Major League Baseball to move next year's game.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo spoke in the strongest terms when he said, "If the game is in Arizona, I will totally boycott."
Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Jose Valverde called it "the stupidest thing you can ever have."
"Nothing against Americans, but us Latinos have contributed so much to this country," said Valverde, who pitched for the Diamondbacks from 2003 to 2007. "We get our hands dirty and do the work gringos don't want to do. We're the ones out there cleaning the streets. Americans don't want to do that stuff.
"They say it's about this, that or the other. But it's all about getting Latinos out of this country. We're just here to help our people. Whether it's Mexico, Dominican, Cuba, we're just trying to help our families."
About two dozen protesters marched and chanted outside the hotel Monday morning. They said they had with them a petition bearing more 100,000 signatures asking Commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 game.
"We just want to make our voices heard and make sure that Major League Baseball knows it can't support racist laws like that," said organizer Ernesto Guerrero of the Service Employees International Union. "We're asking that they move the game out of Arizona."
Q: You are fond of saying how baseball is a social institution with enormous social responsibilities. Yet, when you had the chance to address the issue of whether you should move next year's All-Star game from Phoenix in the wake of Arizona's controversial new immigration law, you pointed to baseball's progress in minority hiring, which did not address the issue. Since half the major league teams hold spring training in Arizona — in ballparks built at almost no cost to the teams — how might those business ties have influenced your decision not to address the issue?My recollection is that Selig's not easily shakable, but we're looking ahead to a long season of boycotts of Arizona and legal challenges to SB 1070, so I'm hoping the commissioner sticks to his principles. It shouldn't be too difficult, if Governor Brewer's experience of facing down Boston's city council is any guide. Local constituents applied the heat to the city's councillors after they passed a boycott on any official city business with Arizona. But when Gov. Brewer showed up for the National Governors Association in Boston, local officials were forced to apologize for their rash denunciation of the AZ law.
A: No, they haven't. I believe we are a social institution. I believe more than ever we have addressed our responsibilities. We're setting up a lot of academies in the inner city, starting with Compton, going on to Houston, Miami, Philadelphia. We've had the great Civil Rights Weekend.
[Sports ethicist] Richard Lapchick, who can be very tough and very difficult, gave us our highest grades. I think the thing I will always be proud of is that he said Bud Selig has made the front offices look like America now. That was the highest compliment he could pay. That's what I said when I answered the question.
Q: But that doesn't address the issue.
A: I think it does. We will be socially active when we can do something to change life. We'll do everything we can to do what Jackie Robinson set us out to do. I'll stand by our record. But I want to say this again: We will do things where what we do really influence the outcome.
Q: So do you foresee any chance that next year's All-Star game will be moved?
A: I think I've given you the answer.
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