Workers remove the MLB All Star Game sign back in April 6, 2021 after MLB pulled the mid summer classic from Trust Park in Atlanta and moved the game to Coors Field in Denver scheduled for July 2021 (AP News file photo)

National Job Creators Network Suing MLB: Say Commissioner is All Strikes and No Balls

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–Here in the Bay Area one of the main topics in the world of sports was the decision by Major League Baseball to the Oakland Athletics to start looking for another city in lieu of the impasse of the new Howard Terminal Ballpark. But there is another relocation battle going on in baseball right now.

More than 30 partners from the Nevada Chamber of Commerce to the National Restaurant Association and the Jobs Creation Network filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court this Tuesday. The national trade group founded by Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, filed the lawsuit alleging that MLB decision to move the All Star Game from Atlanta to Denver, because of the new ID voting law in Georgia, has greatly hurt the business community who was hit very hard by the pandemic and was hoping to bounce back during the All Star Game.

Alfredo Ortíz, the President of Job Creators Network, a Hispanic, said that Rob Manfred, Commissioner of Baseball is “All Strikes and No Balls”. Ortiz, who is also a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, noted that when it comes to identification, “Major League Baseball itself requests ID at will call ticket windows at Yankee Stadium in New York, Busch Stadium in St. Louis and at ballparks all across the country.”

Ken Blackwell, once Mayor of Cincinnati and Ohio secretary of state, a “mover and shaker” in Ohio politics, an African-American minority owner of the Cincinnati Reds said; “This action is not a surprise given the real damage that’s been done” and added “the Baseball Commissioner didn’t do his homework”.

The lawsuit will demand that MLB immediately moves the game back to Atlanta or pay damages to small businesses impacted by its decision. Spokesmen for the MLB and the players association had no comment. On April 6, Major League Baseball announced that Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, home of the Rockies, will play host to the 2021 All-Star Game after previously announcing that Georgia would not house the event.

Although it is unlikely at this late time (with just a month and a half for the ASG to take place) that the game will be moved back to Atlanta, this group of national business people hope to get a ruling in the Manhattan Federal Court where they will order MLB and the Players Association to pay damages to small businesses for the financial destruction they have caused.

The lawsuit will claim that Atlanta, Georgia like all the cities that get picked to host an All Star Game prepare for years, from the moment they get the rights to host the game and Atlanta (is not different) and has been preparing for the game for years prior to the event.

How early are cities picked by MLB to host and All Star Game? Here is an example: Philadelphia will host the 2026 All-Star Game as part of its celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence being signed. In 2020 for the first time since World War II an MLB All Star Game was postponed, due to the pandemic. It was to be held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are now on schedule to host the MLB Midsummer Classic next year, 2022.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com