A.G. Gancarski
For many, baseball evokes sepia-tinged images of a simpler time. For U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a return of America’s pastime offers the potential for some national healing.
“America really needs some unifying common experiences right now,” Rubio tweeted Wednesday, referring to MLB.
Baseball wouldn’t “distract us from our challenges,” Rubio added. It would “remind us of the things we have in common.”
“Baseball can help fill that void & I am cautiously optimistic we will #playball very soon,” Rubio wrote.
The Senator spoke on Wednesday to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, at a time when the players’ union and the league continue to dicker about terms of an abbreviated season.
The latest deliberations, as reported by Buster Olney of ESPN, involve a potential 60-game season starting in July. Major League Baseball submitted the proposal to the players, though it is uncertain whether it will fly.
For his part, Manfred’s messaging on whether Major League Baseball can have some version of a 2020 season has been all over the place.
He had previously said “unequivocally, we are going to play Major League Baseball this year,” but amended his stance to being “not confident” that play could happen this year.
While both sides agreed conceptually to prorated salaries, franchises have balked, saying they need more concessions to host games in empty baseball stadiums.
Rubio is not alone in his call for sports to begin the healing from a tumultuous year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has maintained since soon after he shut down much of the economy for coronavirus precautions that sports would be “good for the mojo.”
The Governor has even joked that Florida offers a great example of social distancing, a benefit in the current climate.
“You go down to the Miami Marlins, as much as I hate to say it, they’re not selling out,” DeSantis said.
“You go there and it’s kind of social distancing anyways because the stadium’s a quarter full,” the Governor quipped earlier this Spring on the Sean Hannity Radio Show.
