Baseball commissioner Bud Selig ignores calls to move next year’s All-Star game from Phoenix

Selig defends baseball’s record on minority hiring

NEW YORK — Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is ignoring calls to move next year’s All-Star game from Phoenix because of Arizona’s new immigration law.

Asked about such demands at a news conference Thursday following an owners meeting, he responded with a defense of baseball’s record on minority hiring.

“Apparently all the people around and in minority communities think we’re doing OK. That’s the issue, and that’s the answer,” he said. “I told the clubs today: ‘Be proud of what we’ve done.’ They are. We should. And that’s our answer. We control our own fate, and we’ve done very well.”

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he wouldn’t participate in next year’s All-Star game if it remains in Arizona because of the law, which empowers police to determine a person’s immigration status. The Major League Baseball Players Association condemned the law and Rep. Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat whose district includes Yankee Stadium, sent Selig a letter asking him to move the game.

Selig cited praise baseball had received from sports sociologist Richard Lapchick, whose annual report from the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports last month gave baseball an A for race and a B for gender hiring. Selig also referenced a lifetime achievement award he received in March from the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

“We’re a social institution. We have done everything we should do — should do, our responsibility,” he said. “Privilege to do it. Don’t want any pats on the back, and we’ll continue to do it.”

Selig also said he was concerned the proposed sale of the Texas Rangers has not been completed. Current owner Tom Hicks reached an agreement Jan. 23 with Pittsburgh lawyer Chuck Greenberg, whose group includes current team president Nolan Ryan. Creditors of the Hicks Sports Group, which owns the Rangers and the NHL’s Dallas Stars, have not approved the deal.

“That that needs to be completed as expeditiously as possible — underscoring, underlining expeditiously,” Selig said. “I’m concerned about the length of time it’s taken. I’m concerned for the franchise, for their fans.”

It’s not clear whether baseball has said it will take over operation of the franchise. Selig wouldn’t address what could be done.

“We’ll let human events determine that,” he said.