Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that he would no longer throw the ceremonial first pitch at the Texas Rangers game amid Major League Baseball's decision to move its All-Star game out of Atlanta because of Georgia's new voting laws.
"I was looking forward to throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers' home opening game until MLB adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about Georgia's election law reforms," Gov. Abbott tweeted. "It is shameful that America's pastime is being influenced by partisan politics."
On Friday, MLB announced that it was moving the All-Star Game and 2021 draft out of Georgia because they support "voting rights for all Americans and oppose restrictions to the ballot box."
In a letter, Gov. Abbott wrote that it was shameful that America's pastime was being influenced by "partisan politics."
He said he would no longer participate in any MLB event, nor would they host any special MLB events.
One of the new law's restrictions would have voters who wanted to cast a mail-in ballot by providing either their driver’s license or state ID number or a photocopy of their identification, Rolling Stone reported.
According to CNN, a teacher in Arlington, Texas, would throw the first pitch, and a nurse would catch it.
