Mind Your Own Business

My daughter has made several attempts to get a job connected to major-league baseball, without success.  At least now we know why.  Clare doesn’t measure up to Cindy Hyde-Smith, the “honorable” junior senator from the great state of Mississippi.

In March, Hyde-Smith was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to fill the vacancy caused when Thad Cochran stepped down for health reasons.  Only baseball appears to be the one feeling sick now after making a campaign contribution to Hyde-Smith, who is seeking to win the seat in her own right (with a runoff set for tomorrow).

MLB gave $5000 to the campaign of a woman who has said that if a supporter “invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row” and termed the use of voter suppression of college students “a great idea.”  Hyde-Smith also had a Facebook picture where she was wearing a rebel cap and holding onto a Civil-War musket.  Wow, with friends like that, MLB sure doesn’t need any enemies. 

So, why does MLB have Hyde-Smith for a friend?  “The [$5000] contribution was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend,” according to a MLB statement that doesn’t explain much of anything.  So much for Manny Machado never being able to live down that “Johnny Hustle” crack of his.

And let’s not forget Charles B. Johnson, a major investor in the San Francisco Giants, who with his wife Ann contributed $5400 to Hyde-Smith, this after the lynching comment went public, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.  Barry Bonds and Charles B. Johnson—enough said, when it comes to the Giants.

Baseball has always been an ugly business, with or without the color line.  Lobbyists are employed to make sure the Supreme Court never wakes up from the dream world in which it gave the national pastime an anti-trust exemption and to guard against anyone in Congress from moving to keep the likes of Charles B. Johnson from getting subsidies for a major-league ball club (think publicly-funded stadiums).  But at least we finally know what kind of woman MLB is aiming to attract.

Clare never had a chance, I’m happy to say.