April 2, 2021

Anthony Clark
Executive Director
Major League Baseball Players’ Association
12 East 49th St. 24th Floor
New York City, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Clark,

It has come to our attention that you, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players
Association, recently told The Boston Globe that you “would look forward to" discussing moving the
MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s recently enacted Election Integrity Act of
2021.1

While we respect the rights of your organization and players to conduct private business activities
freely within the confines of U.S. law, we find this act of protest, which effectively boycotts the state
of Georgia, somewhat confounding. In particular, the Election Integrity Act’s most significant
reforms ensure Georgia’s mail-in ballot system adequately verifies the identification of absentee
voters. This is designed to prevent voter fraud. Nonetheless these changes have been called “racist”
and compared to Jim Crow laws by hyperpartisan detractors. Professional baseball teams use
analogous identification requirements for ticket pickup. Yet, we are unaware of boycott threats
based on these ticket pickup ID policies.2

Do you believe that it is racist to require ID to pick up baseball tickets? If so, why have you and your
players not boycotted teams that have such ID requirements in place? Would your players lose
money if they refused to play in games for such teams? Do you think it is less important to verify the
identity of individuals voting in elections than to verify the ID of individuals picking up baseball
tickets?

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

____________________________________
Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03)
Chairman, Republican Study Committee

1
Michael Silverman, Union president says MLB players ready to discuss moving All-Star Game from Georgia in
wake of voter-restriction laws, Boston Globe (March 26, 2021),
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/26/sports/union-boss-says-baseball-players-ready-discuss-possibility-
moving-all-star-game-out-georgia/?event=event25.
2
For instance the Washington Nationals, Yankees, Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals require individuals to
display a current state issued photo ID in order to retrieve tickets. Additional steps are often taken, such as chain of
custody record keeping, to ensure that tickets only go to their rightful owners.