Former Major League Baseball player David Wells slammed his former sports league’s commissioner Rob Manfred over the decision to move the All-Star Game out of Georgia over a new voting law and said he doesn’t watch baseball anymore.
“To me, how do you change the games, the dynamics, and hurt a city like Atlanta that really needs some income in that situation?” he said during an interview on Fox News radio this week. “I mean, Atlanta’s a great place to play baseball.”
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Wells, who pitched for teams during his 21-year career in baseball, said he’s never been a fan of Manfred.
“I’ve had a lot of dealings with Rob Manfred back in my playing days, and I never liked the guy,” Wells said. “I thought he was a bit odd. He never understood anything.”
MLB announced last week it is moving the All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado in response to a controversial election integrity law aimed at preventing voter fraud in the Peach State.
Wells, nicknamed “Boomer” during his playing days, lamented the way the “race card” is played in society and said he doesn’t watch baseball because of the way the league has injected politics into the game.
“I don’t watch baseball anymore, Brian,” Wells said. “I refuse to watch it because of this. I don’t want no part of it, and this was my life … For me not to want to go to a baseball game or even watch, it kills me, because I don’t put up with that kind of crap, and I don’t condone it.”
Wells also took issue with professional athletes who have knelt for the national anthem over the past few years and said he doesn’t wear Nike products anymore because of the company’s social justice messaging.
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“[Kneeling for the national anthem is] disrespecting our flag, it’s disrespecting our military guys, and I don’t stand for it,” Wells explained. “I grew up in San Diego, a military town, so to me, Nike — I took everything I had Nike [and] threw it in the trash. I got rid of it all. I don’t want it. I don’t condone these types of things … If I was playing right now, Brian, I would not wear that Nike. I would rip it off. I would cut a hole in my jersey and not have Nike on anything, and if I got suspended, so be it.”
Wells pitched for nine teams during his 21-year career in baseball, winning two World Series championships, making three All-Star teams, and striking out 2,201 batters.
