Rubio asks MLB commissioner if he will drop Augusta Golf Club membership

His. Marco rubioMarco Antonio Rubio Republicans slam MLB for moving All-Star Game GOP lawmakers ask Biden administration for advice on reopening cruise business Amazon union vote tally begins this week for Alabama Warehouse PLUS (R-Fla.) Sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday asking if Manfred would forfeit his membership at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club following the league’s decision to withdraw the 2021 All-Star Game of Atlanta to protest. Georgia’s controversial new electoral law.

Rubio took a personal MLB header after Manfred said the decision to retire the Georgia MLB All-Star Game and Draft was “the best way to demonstrate our values ​​as a sport.”

“I am writing to ask if you intend to maintain your Augusta National Golf Club membership. As you are well aware, the exclusive members-only club is located in the state of Georgia, ”Rubio wrote to Manfred.

Augusta National, the annual host of the Masters Tournament, one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, only invited a black player to the Masters in 1975, and the club itself only admitted its first. black member than in 1990.

Rubio has hinted that Manfred is engaging in a double standard by supporting the decision to withdraw the All-Star Game from Georgia amid criticism that the state’s new election law discriminates against black voters in metropolitan Atlanta. .

Rubio said the decision to move the All-Star Game “will have a bigger impact on the countless small minority-owned businesses in and around Atlanta than the new election law ever will.”

And he said it “smacks of hypocrisy.”

Rubio also said he had “no illusions” that Manfred will end his August National membership because “it would require personal sacrifice, as opposed to the awakened corporate virtue of moving the All Star Game from there. Atlanta.

The GOP senator and potential White House candidate for 2024 also challenged Manfred to reassess baseball’s relationship with China and Cuba, two countries with a history of human rights abuses.

“Will Major League Baseball now end its engagement with nations that do not hold elections at all like China and Cuba?” Are you going to end your lucrative financial relationship with Tencent, a company closely linked to the Communist Party that actively helps the Chinese government track down and silence political dissidents? Rubio wrote.

The Florida senator predicted that the MLB would not boycott China as it could lead to a substantial drop in income.

“Hitting the Georgia All-Star Game is an easy way to point out virtues without significant financial payoffs. But denouncing the Chinese Communist Party would mean a significant loss of income and the closure of a lucrative market, ”he wrote.

His letter follows calls from Republican lawmakers, including the senator. Ted cruzRafael (Ted) Edward Cruz Georgia County Says All-Star Game Removal Will Cost Tourism 0M MSNBC Host: Boehner Tackling GOP ‘Crazies’ Now ‘Too Little Too Late’ Hopes for GOP 2024 White House Lead Opposition to Biden PLUS Cabinet (R-Texas), another White House hopeful, and the senator. Mike leeMichael (Mike) Shumway Lee Why Some Republicans Think Vaccine Passports Will Backfire on Democrats Georgia County Says All-Star Game Removal Will Cost Tourism 0M GOP Senators Push to End MLB Antitrust Status (R-Utah), to end MLB’s antitrust exemption.

“@SenMikeLee and I are going to work hard to END MLB antitrust immunity,” Cruz tweeted Friday with the hashtag #GowokeGobroke.

Lee tweeted, “It’s time for the federal government to stop granting special privileges to specific and favored companies, especially those that punish their political opponents.”