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Commissioner Bud Selig finally responded last week to pressure to move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona in response to the state’s recently passed laws that mandate that the police demand the papers of any “suspicious” immigrants and ban ethnic studies in Tucson public schools.   Selig’s response, as with most of his official actions, was disgraceful. Selig cited the high numbers of Latino and Hispanic players the league employs as proof that baseball doesn’t need to take an official stand against laws that discriminate against those very players and any one who looks like them or shares their heritage.

More of Selig’s smug and ridiculous statement:

“Apparently all the people around and in minority communities think we’re doing OK. That’s the issue, and that’s the answer. I told the clubs today: ‘Be proud of what we’ve done.’ They are. We should. And that’s our answer. We control our own fate, and we’ve done very well.”

Selig’s response is especially disingenuous since Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick is still busy raising money for the Republican politicians who passed Arizona’s new apartheidesque legislation.

As much as MLB likes to play the Jackie Robinson card, there’s certainly precedent for moving the All-Star Game.  In the 1990’s, the NFL took a Super Bowl away from Arizona when they refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day.

There’s a website and online petition devoted to getting the game moved, and they have an impressive list of MLB players who have publicly spoken out against the Arizona laws:

• Jorge Cantú (Florida Marlins–3B)
• Augie Ojeda (Arizona Diamondbacks–SS)
• Michael Young (Texas Rangers–3B)
• Frank Francisco (Texas Rangers–P)
• Alexei Ramírez (Chicago White Sox–SS)
• Adrian Gonzalez (San Diego Padres–1B)
• Ozzie Guillén (Chicago White Sox–Manager)
• César Izturis (Baltimore Orioles–SS)
• Heath Bell (San Diego Padres–P)
• Rod Barajas (New York Mets–C)
• Scott Hairston (San Diego Padres–OF)
• Joe Saunders (Los Angeles Angels–OF)
• Bobby Abreu (Los Angeles Angels–OF)
• Yorvit Torrealba (San Diego Padres–C)
• José Guillén (Kansas City Royals–DH)
• Kyle McClellan (St. Louis Cardinals–P)
• MLB Players’ Association President Michael Weiner
• Andres Torres (San Francisco Giants–OF)
• Sandy Alomar, Jr. (Cleveland Indians–Coach)

Hopefully their voices will be heard and Selig’s hand will be forced.