Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

San Francisco Giants Cancel Championship Legend Aubrey Huff For Tweeting Support Of Trump
The Federalist ^ | 02/20/2020 | Kyle Sammin

Posted on 02/20/2020 9:50:57 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Sports used to be a thing over which people of different political and social backgrounds could join in support of their local team. No longer. The trend of politicizing everything infected professional sports years ago but now has even started creeping into sports history. This week, the San Francisco Giants cast Aubrey Huff’s legacy down the memory hole because he made the mistake of backing the wrong political party.

Ten years ago, Giants players and fans celebrated their first world championship since 1954. It was the only one they had won to that point, since moving from New York to California, despite nine playoff appearances in that span. The World Series win ended an incredible drought for such a storied franchise, and the jubilation in the Bay Area was apparent immediately. They have won twice since, in 2012 and 2014.

The team visited President Barack Obama at the White House, as is traditional for winners of championships, and the experience was low-key and non-political. Various California politicians joined them there, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, newly appointed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. These people are all Democrats, and many baseball players are Republicans, but it didn’t matter. They all had a good time at the joyous, lighthearted event.

Now Aubrey Huff Is an Outcast

How times have changed in the decade since. Many of the politicians are the same, but the new occupant of the White House — and people’s extreme reactions to him — have changed even normal events such as these into political contests. Aubrey Huff, a first baseman and outfielder for the 2010 Giants, was recently informed by the team that he is not welcome at an upcoming celebration of the 10th anniversary of the World Series win. His crime: publicly supporting Donald Trump.

In an interview with Steve Berman and Dan Brown of The Athletic, Huff discussed the snub from his former employers. Asked for his opinion, Huff said he was “quite frankly, shocked. Disappointed. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t be having a reunion.”

Huff, who hit .290 with 26 home runs and slugged .506 that year, was not exaggerating. He was the most valuable player on the team that year, as measured by Baseball Reference’s wins against replacement stat, and finished seventh in the National League’s MVP voting. He was also known as a great presence in the clubhouse, a team leader who had an unusual sense of humor. Huff was no bit player; he was the heart of a winning team.

The Athletic’s story confirmed it was Huff’s social media support for the president that made the Giants management declare him persona non grata. According to a team statement, “Aubrey has made multiple comments on social media that are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization.”

Corporate America has long been ruled by men who fear nothing more than being unpopular with the in-crowd, and baseball is no different. In most times, these people have been divided fairly equally between the major parties, but the unending furor against Trump on the left has scared big business into kowtowing to the wokesters, lest they lose the business of online socialists who don’t watch sports anyway.

Huff Reveals the Giants’ Hypocrisy

Far from being cowed at being made into an unperson, Huff used social media to tell his story. He tweeted, “My locker room humor on Twitter is meant to be satirical, and sarcastic. And it was that type of humor that loosened up the clubhouse in 2010 for our charge at a World Series title. They loved it then, and it hasn’t changed. That’s not the issue. It’s politics.”

Huff also took aim at the Giants owner, Larry Baer. “I find this whole thing very hypocritical coming from a man who has had his share of real controversy for pushing his wife, for which he had to take a break from the Giants and issue a formal apology. All I did was tweet.” Huff was referring to a 2019 incident in which Baer was seen and filmed arguing with his wife in a park, an argument that left her sprawled on the ground after Baer wrestled a cell phone from her. Major League Baseball, under the pusillanimous leadership of Rob Manfred, suspended Baer for three months.

It’s a good thing Baer didn’t vote the wrong way, or else he’d be out in the cold for good. Huff is right to be outraged, and not just at the Giants’ ownership’s hypocrisy. Extremists in politics have always wanted their preferred ideology to overshadow everything, but that monomania has been gaining in popularity even among once-normal people on the political left. When radicals in the ’60s proclaimed that “the personal is political,” most Americans were quite certain they were wrong. Politics had a place — it is the way a free people governs itself — but that place was not every place.

Politics Shouldn’t Destroy Monoculture

Americans are a political people. We have to be. We elect our leaders, and that requires thinking about — and talking about — politics. That means politics isn’t a dirty word. But it also includes a temptation to let it take over everything. Our political opinions need not be a secret, but neither should a difference of political opinion mean we can no longer associate with each other.

Politics is important, but it can tear us apart, too. People need a break from it all, and there is no better escape from fractiousness than the unity that sports brings to a city. When you attend a baseball game, you have no idea how the fan sitting next to you voted in the last election. You don’t know if he wants socialized health care or tax cuts or entitlement reform or school vouchers. More importantly, you don’t care. You’re there to cheer on your team and have a nice time at the ballpark.

Sports, like music, art, and theater, can get political. But it really doesn’t have to. People who differ in worldviews about government can be perfectly in agreement about baseball, jazz, impressionism, and many other cultural items. The Giants do all baseball fans a disservice by turning their back on Huff, a player who helped them bring home their first championship in 66 years. In doing so, they also chip away at one of the few remaining institutions that unites people of all political stripes.


Kyle Sammin is a lawyer from Pennsylvania, a senior contributor to The Federalist, and the co-host of the Conservative Minds podcast.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: California
KEYWORDS: aubreyhuff; baseball; california; cancelculture; doublestandards; giants; mlb; sanfrancisco; sanfranciscogiants; sports; trump; twitter
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last
To: SeekAndFind

Let the Bernie Bots, ghetto blacks barrio Latinos and effeminates, Man hating lesbians and,homosexuals support your damn game

There’s your political constituencies. Ride them.


21 posted on 02/20/2020 10:55:59 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Guns up . . . We cominÂ’ PS: Eric The Blower CIAramella. PASS IT ON)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: irishjuggler

Silly! Don’t you know that there’s no place in professional sports for politics! [/SARCASM]


22 posted on 02/20/2020 10:56:02 AM PST by 50sDad (A Liberal prevents me from telling you anything here)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: drypowder

How bout Cutie Pie Curry and his GS Social Warriors?


23 posted on 02/20/2020 10:58:44 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Guns up . . . We cominÂ’ PS: Eric The Blower CIAramella. PASS IT ON)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
2bck9d
24 posted on 02/20/2020 11:00:09 AM PST by timestax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It doesn’t matter what the subject or what the situation is, Democrats always show what low-lifes they are. Politics trumps everything for Democrats and it doesn’t matter what it is, they will destroy decency and people to further their agenda. They are truly pathetic people.


25 posted on 02/20/2020 11:02:31 AM PST by falcon99 (qu)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Cancel the cancel culture.


26 posted on 02/20/2020 11:12:37 AM PST by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: overkill_007_2000

Ah, moved to San Diego in 2018 glad he is back heard they have changed GM and manager now. That 2010 2012 and 2014 were the best of times - my kids were just growing up and it helped them learn to love baseball.


27 posted on 02/20/2020 11:36:46 AM PST by Jolla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

White and Pro-Trump?

YER OUT!!!


28 posted on 02/20/2020 11:58:35 AM PST by Roccus (Prima di ogni altra cosa, siate armati!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The liberals responsible for this would do MUCH worse to Huff, if they could.


29 posted on 02/20/2020 12:22:20 PM PST by simpson96
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnBrowdie

Heck even the Giants couldn’t stay in San Francisco.


30 posted on 02/20/2020 12:28:43 PM PST by dblshot (I am John Galt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NobleFree
I've told a joke like that myself...

But nobody knows me...My cows barely know me...until I blow the horn. THEN they know me.....LOL

31 posted on 02/20/2020 12:34:31 PM PST by Osage Orange (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: dblshot

Where are they now?


32 posted on 02/20/2020 12:36:19 PM PST by Osage Orange (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: irishjuggler

Very cool!!

So sick of these intolerant, polarizing sports/media nazi owners/members.


33 posted on 02/20/2020 12:40:38 PM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.cuase)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: irishjuggler

Jillian whatsername on Fox and Friends First was particularly nasty and judgmental towards him yesterday morning during an interview. I was surprised and disappointed in her lack of bias.


34 posted on 02/20/2020 12:45:29 PM PST by EnquiringMind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: timestax
proud-Lieberal
35 posted on 02/20/2020 12:53:42 PM PST by timestax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Osage Orange

My bad, it’s the 49’ers that moved to Santa Clara. Kayakers are still snagging home runs in the bay.


36 posted on 02/20/2020 1:01:01 PM PST by dblshot (I am John Galt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Vaquero

“ These are not left leaning moderates. These are dyed in the wool Stalinist Marxists.”

... tomato, tomato.


37 posted on 02/20/2020 1:04:39 PM PST by semaj (We are the People)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"[M]ultiple comments on social media… are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization.” False. Deceptive garbage from a corrupt leader. "Our organization" is just a weasel word for 'our corrupt leader and his feelings.' Fact proven in court: Barry Bonds was hired and given drugs to fill the new SF stadium. When he failed to win the WS in 2002, the Giants gave him more money and drugs. His season in 2004 was jacked up the steroids so well described by his girlfriend, Sunny. Funny how deceitful, selfish people pretend to be clean and innocent.


38 posted on 02/20/2020 3:04:32 PM PST by Falconspeed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

There’s a website for baseball news - MLBTradeRumors.com - that has chats 3 or 4 times a week. Recently one of the participants asked if Huff was getting a raw deal. The MLB Trade Rumors guy responded with vile Antifa-ish words about Huff. The site is much less good now as far as I’m concerned. They should stick to baseball.


39 posted on 02/20/2020 7:44:04 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson