Giancarlo Stanton ready to talk about moving All-Star Game out of Atlanta over new voting laws

TAMPA — Giancarlo Stanton expects to have conversations with the union and other players about possibly moving this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta to protest Georgia’s legislature enacted voting laws that have been labeled as racist by President Biden.

“It’d be situations like this, topics like this, to move forward, talk about it (and) get the best game plan to move forward,” Stanton said Saturday.

While he said he would have to get more details on the Georgia laws, the MLBPA is already considering their options.

“Players are very much aware,” Tony Clark told The Boston Globe. “As it relates to the All-Star Game, we have not had a conversation with the league on that issue. If there is an opportunity to, we would look forward to having that conversation.”

The MLB All-Star Game is scheduled to be played July 13 at Atlanta’s Truist Park. There is precedent for pro leagues moving All-Star games. In 2017, the NBA moved its game out of Charlotte after a bill that limited anti-discrimination protections was enacted in North Carolina.

Stanton was vocally supportive of the wave of protests against racism and systemic injustice that grew across the nation last summer and fall. He and Aaron Hicks were the only Yankees to take a knee during the national anthem to support the protests. And he spoke out eloquently on his feelings about the movement.

Voting Rights, hard won in the beginning of this Civil Right era, are now at the forefront of those racial justice movements with bills across the country aimed at rules that would disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color.

On Thursday, the Republican-sponsored bill, which includes restrictions on voting by mail and the state legislature taking greater control over the process, was signed into law by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

The laws will disproportionately affect voters of color, Democrats and voting rights groups said. It’s one of many election restriction bills introduced across the country in the wake of the false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Biden called it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” and pointed out the bill would make it illegal to bring water to voters waiting in long lines.

Friday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who would manage the National League team, told reporters that he would consider backing out if MLB does not move the game.

“I will certainly consider it,” the manager of the World Series champion Dodgers said. “I don’t know enough about it right now. But when you’re restricting — trying to restrict — American votes, American citizens, that’s alarming to me to hear it. As we get to that point and we know more, I will make a better decision. But I do think that if it gets to that point, it will certainly be a decision I have to make personally.”