Senator urges baseball players to boycott next year’s All Star game in Arizona

Senator calls for boycott of Arizona All Star game

WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Menendez is urging the Major League Baseball Players Association to boycott next year’s All Star Game in Phoenix over the recently passed Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigrants.

The New Jersey Democrat says in a letter that 27 percent of Major League players are Latinos and they shouldn’t be subjected to a law Menendez says codifies racial profiling.

Rep. Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat, has similarly asked the players to boycott the 2011 event, noting that in 1993 the National Football League rescinded its offer to host the Super Bowl in Arizona because it didn’t then recognize Martin Luther King day.

Players Association Executive Director Michael Weiner has come out against the law, saying it could negatively impact hundreds of players.