With baseball’s All-Star Game taking place next Tuesday, I wanted to weave together two frequent topics in my blog (baseball, social awareness) and ask a question: why doesn’t Major League Baseball speak up more about current events overseas?
For those of you keeping score at home, Venezuela has descended into near anarchy. Violence has become a standard political tool. Their free-falling economy threatens reach Weimar Republic levels. A renegade policeman commandeered a helicopter to attack the Supreme Court with grenades, perhaps as a false flag attack.
Meanwhile, MLB, currently home to over 70 Venezuelan players, has not made any statements I can find to address the situation. Put another way, about one-in-twelve men who pull on an MLB uniform comes from Venezuela and, presumably, still has family there.
Miguel Cabrera, Venezuela’s top export now that oil prices are low
Just after President’s Trump’s inauguration, I wrote about the need for every business, even one as small as mine, to have a foreign policy. Given MLB’s efforts to popularize the game overseas, you’d think that goes double for them. Already, some Venezuelan players have spoken out via social media and other channels.
I realize that MLB does not dictate foreign policy in Latin America in the way that, say, the United Fruit Company did. MLB clubs have largely closed their baseball scouting operations in the country, thus depriving them of on-the-ground influence. However, they can still lead positive change in the country. If I could share a nice, cold cerveza Polar with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, here’s what I’d suggest:
- First and foremost, use the upcoming All-Star Game as a platform to talk about Venezuela. The game will take place in Miami, the de-facto capital of Latin America, especially affluent Latin America.
- Offer mediation help. While it’s tempting to recommend that MLB support the disgruntled opposition, I can’t ignore the harm it might do to families left behind. That said, MLB has deep experience in mediation both at the micro scale (negotiating player contracts) and the macro scale (labor agreements). If she weren’t otherwise engaged, I’d recommend Justice Sonia Sotomayor, not just because she speaks Spanish, but because she settled the last baseball labor action.
- Support players’ social media activities. Consider using MLB and MLB TV resources to amplify what they have to say, especially in international channel.
I reached out to the Commissioner’s office to see if they had anything to say. However, they’re rather busy with the All-Star Game festivities, so they didn’t get back to me. I’ll share if they do.
