Former MLB great David Wells is blasting MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for pulling the league’s All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to Georgia’s voter reform law.
Wells let fly with his criticisms on Thursday during an episode of the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio:
I’ve had a lot of dealings with Rob Manfred back in my playing days, and I never liked the guy. I thought he was a bit odd. He never understood anything.
To me, how do you change the games, the dynamics, and hurt a city like Atlanta that really needs some income in that situation? I mean, Atlanta’s a great place to play baseball.
Georgia’s recently passed an election reform law to make it more difficult for voter fraud to occur. Among the reforms, the law requires proof of ID for those seeking absentee ballots and changes rules regarding campaigning near polls.
President Biden led a chorus of disapproval from the left in response to the law. At one point, Biden even referred to the measure as “Jim Crow on steroids” even though the bill actually expanded voting opportunities in most cases.
Regardless, MLB went ahead and moved the ASG to Colorado, a state which requires voter ID and actually has fewer early voting days than Georgia.
Wells had sharp words for Biden administration, who, he says, “has no idea what they’re doing.”
“I don’t watch baseball anymore, Brian,” Wells continued. “I refuse to watch it because of this. I don’t want no part of it, and this was my life … For me not to want to go to a baseball game or even watch, it kills me because I don’t put up with that kind of crap, and I don’t condone it.”
Wells’ disgust at the current “state-of-play” in the realm of sports and politics is not confined to MLB. The former World Series champion had harsh words for Nike and anthem protests as well.
“It’s [Kneeling for the national anthem is] disrespecting our flag, it’s disrespecting our military guys, and I don’t stand for it,” he said. “I grew up in San Diego, a military town, so to me, Nike — I took everything I had Nike, threw it in the trash. I got rid of it all. I don’t want it, I don’t condone these types of things … If I was playing right now, Brian, I would not wear that Nike. I would rip it off. I would cut a hole in my jersey and not have Nike on anything, and if I got suspended, so be it.”
Wells is a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. He also threw a perfect game in May of 1998.
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