Say It Ain't So. Major League Baseball Just Donated Maximum of $5,000 to Cindy Hyde-Smith. U/D.

I love baseball.

Growing up in southern Missouri, long before I paid attention to politics and other adult pursuits, baseball occupied a lot of my consciousness and spare time, particularly after my beloved St. Louis Cardinals bested the detested Yankees in the 1964 World Series, when I was eight years old. Three players on that team became heroes of my youth, and, I think, helped to sculpt my negatives views of racism for a lifetime.

So it was with some distress that I read this morning that the MLB PAC had donated the maximum of $5,000 to racist Mississippi Senate Candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith on Friday, two weeks after video surfaced of her joking about sitting in the front row of a “public hanging.”

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“Over the past week, seven major corporations have asked for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) to refund their contributions. Earlier this month, Hyde-Smith told a crowd at a campaign event that she would be willing to attend a "public hanging."

But one prominent American institution is going the other direction: Major League Baseball. According to an FEC report filed on November 24, the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC donated $5000, the legal maximum, to Hyde-Smith's campaign. The contribution is dated November 23.

The Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC was established in 2002. It was formed "as the sport endured a number of potentially crippling controversies, including the threat of a player's strike and fan anger over the possible contraction of two teams." The commissioner of Major League Baseball is Rob Manfred.”

I’m sure MLB will come out with a statement to the effect that these PAC contributions are routinely made to politicians, Democrat and Republican alike and only reflect Baseball’s desire to ingratiate themselves to whomever is in Congress.

But hey, they had two weeks to not make this horrendously bad decision, and screwed up anyway.

Join me in letting them hear about it:

Or, you can write or call the Commissioner of Baseball:

If I see an online petition I will update.