Gov. Abbott Says “No” to Invitation to Throw Rangers First Pitch
Nearly 40,000 baseball fans attended the Texas Rangers home opener on Monday. The home opener marked the first full-capacity sporting event in a year. It came as no surprise, last month the Rangers announced that they would not be putting a limit on their attendance. Still, footage from Global Life Stadium was wild as it looked like it was in the "before times" A.K.A. 2019.
One person noticeably absent was Texas Governor Greg Abbott. On Monday afternoon, Abbott announced that he would not be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the Rangers' home opener citing Major League Baseball's stance on voter integrity laws recently passed in Georgia.
MLB recently moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to Georgia’s new election integrity laws. On Monday, Abbott Tweeted out his lament.
In his open letter, Governor Abbott also states that he "will not participate in an event held by MLB and the State will not seek to host the All-Star Game or any other MLB special events."
Governor Abbott closed his letter with: "This decision does not diminish the deep respect I have for the Texas Rangers baseball organization, which is outstanding from top to bottom." He also signed it with "Best regards" which we all know is corporate talk for "F off".
You can check out his entire statement here.
Instead of having the governor at the home opener, Audrey Simmons, a fifth grade science teacher from Dunn Elementary in Arlington threw the first pitch. Sydney Maxwell, a nurse at Medical City Healthcare, caught the first pitch.
KEEP READING: See how sports around the world have been impacted by the coronavirus
More From KLAQ El Paso
