BALK

Texas Guv Backs Out of First Pitch Over MLB’s All-Star Game Protest

“It is shameful that America’s pastime is being influenced by partisan politics,” the Republican governor whined in a Monday statement.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Monday that he will no longer toss out the ceremonial first pitch for the Texas Rangers’ home opener because of his objection to Major League Baseball’s protest against Georgia’s new restrictive voting law.

“I was looking forward to throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opening game until @MLB adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about Georgia’s election law reforms,” the Republican governor wrote on Twitter. “It is shameful that America’s pastime is being influenced by partisan politics.” Abbott further added that he will not participate in any future MLB events.

The league announced that it would relocate its midseason all-star game, as well as its amateur draft, out of Atlanta in protest of the state’s new voting law that has been widely criticized as hampering the right to vote for some Georgians while boosting the Republican-controlled legislature’s power over elections.