MLB Pulls the Plug On Political Donations In the Aftermath of Capitol Insurrection

As the fallout from Trump’s Parler party at the U.S. Capitol continues, Major League Baseball has joined AT&T, Amazon, and other corporate entities in reassessing its political involvement moving forward.

From The Associated Press:

Major League Baseball is suspending all political contributions in the wake of last week’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob loyal to President Donald Trump, joining a wave of major corporations rethinking their efforts to lobby Washington.

“In light of the unprecedented events last week at the U.S. Capitol, MLB is suspending contributions from its Political Action Committee pending a review of our political contribution policy going forward,” the league said in a statement to the AP on Wednesday.

For those wondering about other professional sports organizations like the NFL, it’s reconsidering its donations but has yet to fully commit to suspending them.

“We are re-evaluating our political giving policies through the Gridiron PAC,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the AP in a statement.

What’s interesting is that while companies like the aforementioned AT&T, Amazon, Best Buy, Airbnb, and others have specifically withheld financial contributions to Congress members who railed against certifying the results of the presidential election, MLB is suspending its donations to both political parties.

Also of interest is how those donations were actually divvied up.

From The Associated Press:

The Office of The Commissioner of Major League Baseball Political Action Committee has donated $669,375 to Senate and House candidates since the 2016 election cycle, with 52.4% of that money going to Republican candidates, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.

Among its lobbying successes was a bill in 2018 that exempted minor league baseball players making as little as $5,500 per season from federal minimum wage laws, preempting a lawsuit from three players filed four years earlier. The “Save America’s Pastime Act” appeared on page 1,967 of a $1.3 trillion spending bill.

Since the 2016 election cycle, MLB has cut checks to two senators and nine reps who—wait for it—openly opposed certifying Biden’s victory. Their names?

GOP senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), and the House reps Roger Williams (Texas), Kevin McCarthy (California), David Schweikert (Arizona), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma), Adrian Smith (Nebraska), Michael Burgess (Texas), Rick Crawford (Arkansas) and Elise Stefanik (New York).

I’m a big proponent of hitting people where it hurts, and we all know money almost always talks the loudest.