Oakland A’s Pitcher Sean Doolittle Hosts 17 Syrian Refugee Families for Thanksgiving

While the argument rages over when or even if the U.S. should accept Syrian refugees, Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle put actions to the test, not just words, by inviting 17 Syrian families to Thanksgiving dinner.

Doolittle hosted the refugee families at a dinner event in Chicago on the night before Thanksgiving. Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel also attended.

“Chicago is so lucky to have 17 Syrian refugee families now officially calling it home,” Doolittle’s girlfriend, Eireann Dolan, wrote on social media. “We thought we’d officially welcome them with one of our greatest American traditions, Thanksgiving. Thank you to Mayor Emanuel and Alderman Burke for joining the party! If you’d like to sponsor a refugee family in Chicago, link is in my bio #refugeeswelcome.”

The left-handed Doolittle, who has been with the A’s since being selected in the first round in 2007, has been a great relief pitcher despite injuries that put him on the sidelines for much of 2015. Doolittle was also an MLB All-Star in 2014.

Doolittle’s dinner comes on the heels of the decisions of more than half of U.S. governors who have decided to put a halt to the importation of Syrians after links to Syrian refugees were discovered among the ISIS terrorists who killed over 100 people in Paris earlier this month.

Despite security concerns, President Obama has pushed hard to implement his policy to import tens of thousands of “Refugees” into the U.S. and has even threatened the governors not to stand in his way or face “enforcement actions” by the federal government.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com