Thread: MLB Players' Union Opposes Ariz. Immigration Law

Apr 30, 8:04 PM EDT

MLB players' union opposes Arizona immigration law

By BEN WALKER
AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Given a chance to take part in the 2011 All-Star game at Arizona, Ozzie Guillen insists he won't go.

"I wouldn't do it," the Chicago White Sox manager said Friday. "As a Latin American, it's natural that I have to support our own."

Guillen joined a growing chorus of opposition to Arizona's new law that empowers police to determine a person's immigration status. The state is home to all four major team sports, hosts half the clubs in spring training and holds top events in NASCAR, golf and tennis.

The Major League Baseball players' union issued a statement condemning the law. A congressman whose district includes Yankee Stadium wrote a letter to baseball commissioner Bud Selig urging him to pull the All-Star game from Phoenix. The World Boxing Council took a step to limit fights in Arizona.

"It's a bad thing," said Baltimore shortstop Cesar Izturis, born in Venezuela. "Now they're going to go after everybody, not just the people behind the wall. Now they're going to come out on the street. What if you're walking on the street with your family and kids? They're going to go after you."

More than one-quarter of big leaguers on opening-day rosters were born outside the 50 states, most of them from Hispanic descent.

"These international players are very much a part of our national pastime," MLB union head Michael Weiner said. "Each of them must be ready to prove, at any time, his identity and the legality of his being in Arizona to any state or local official with suspicion of his immigration status."

Weiner said that if the law is not repealed or modified, the union would consider "additional steps."

A day earlier, WBC president Jose Sulaiman said its sanctioning body unanimously agreed it will not authorize Mexican boxers to fight in Arizona.

"Great figures of boxing have fought in Arizona, boxers such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Konstantin Tszyu, 'Coloradito' Lopez and many, many others," said Sulaiman, who is based in Mexico City. "The WBC will not allow that in boxing, athletes are exposed to suffer that degrading act, humiliating and inhumane, as racial discrimination is."

MLB, the NFL and the NBA declined comment on the law.

The BCS national championship game will be played next January in Glendale, Ariz., shortly after the city hosts the Fiesta Bowl.

"The recent Arizona immigration legislation is obviously a matter of great public concern," the Fiesta Bowl said in a statement Friday. "While this matter may ultimately be resolved in a court of law or in the court of public opinion, we are certain that it will not be resolved on the fields of college football."

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., sent a letter Thursday night to Selig, asking him to take next year's All-Star game out of Arizona.

Calling the law "extremist" and "discriminatory," the congressman wrote: The All-Star game is now not just a display of baseball's best talent, but is also a display of the global reach of the game. It is at odds with the reality of the modern game to hold such a prestigious event in a state that would not welcome those same players if they did not play our national pastime."

St. Louis pitcher Kyle McClellan, the Cardinals' player representative, said he didn't know whether the summer showcase would get moved.

"The All-Star game, it's going to generate a lot of revenue. Look at what it did here for St. Louis," he said. "It was a huge promotion for this city and this club and it's one of those things where it's something that would definitely leave a mark on them if we were to pull out of there. It would get a point across."

"Now whether it would actually come down to that, I don't know." he said.

Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said "this whole situation is sad and disappointing."

"We believe the federal government should act swiftly to address the immigration issue once and for all," he said in a statement.

Said Cleveland Indians coach Sandy Alomar Jr., whose team trains in Goodyear, Ariz.: "Certainly I am against profiling any race and having sterotypes, but at the same time my feeling is what does baseball have to do with politics? Let the politicians stay in politics and the baseball players play baseball."

Guillen, from Venezuela, became an American citizen in 2006. He said players should consider boycotting baseball in Arizona, adding, "I plead sportsmen to join on this."

The White Sox hold spring training in suburban Phoenix. Guillen said he hoped MLB would take a strong stance on the immigration law.

"They have to. They have a team in Arizona," he said. "There is a concern for baseball players to go out there, of course, and we've got to support those people."

---

AP Sports Writers Eric Nunez, Dave Skretta and David Ginsburg and AP freelance writers Chuck Murr and Steve Overbey contributed to this report.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., sent a letter Thursday night to Selig, asking him to take next year's All-Star game out of Arizona.

Wow, some of these guys are going to the extreme. It's wild how all the Hispanics in the public eye seem to rally in support of law breakers.

This is real telling:

"As a Latin American, it's natural that I have to support our own."

Shouldn't that comment be considered racist?

Well hey, then don't play in the All-Star game, I'm sure there are plenty of American players who'd love to play!

The true racists are coming out now and it's not us.

Each and every one of them-- prove the point that a large number of Latinos have zero loyalty to America and 100% loyalty to their ethnicity. Then we are called racist, etc--who are the true racists???

hey baseball, stay out of politics..
now and forever. your a sport that people get a way from the real world for a couple of hours. dont become idiots

This is also posted on www.espn.com and is one of the main stories on the right hand side of the page. some 2000 comments.

thank you for making that choice.. I will now watch football .. and pro football players .. go ahead and make my day.. my money will go to college level sports

"I wouldn't do it," the Chicago White Sox manager said Friday. "As a Latin American, it's natural that I have to support our own."

Ozzie: You are an American citizen. You need to think about what is best for the country, not about what is best for illegal Hispanics. BTW, this law reflects national law which applies to ALL illegals, not just to Hispanics. Their superiority complex leads them to believe that it's all about them.

It sure would be easy to boycott baseball. They have a hard enough time getting people to come to games. They had best stick to sports and stay out of politics.

Closing in on 3000 posts on the ESPN story