Ahead of his appearance on last week’s episode of Candace, two-time World Series champion Aubrey Huff sat down to talk with The Daily Wire on Major League Baseball moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, cancel culture, the current state of baseball, and more.
DAILY WIRE: Everyone is talking about Georgia right now, as they have made the decision to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to State Senate Bill 202. What has the reaction been from MLB players? Would they prefer Major League Baseball stay out of political conversations and debates?
HUFF: When I played, I intentionally stayed off social media. I didn’t have one. I didn’t let my conservative values out. Because you’re going to alienate half your fan base right out of the gate. So I don’t understand why athletes do that in the first place.
I didn’t really hear much about it (All-Star Game) until recently. I had to dig more into it. And from the outside looking in, the instant thinking was the players were blindsided. Had to have been. And what most people don’t know – and I get this question on social media from fans all the time – How many players are conservative in Major League Baseball? 80%. Easy. Even the guys from Venezuela and Puerto Rico. They’re trying to escape all this communism and all this bull****. So, they’re conservative as well.
So, I was interested. What is really going on?
Now, I’ve been retired for 9 years. So the only people I know are current staff. Managers, hitting coaches and guys that I played with. I started reaching out to them. They were a little hesitant to tell me because I have a big mouth, but they gave me the gist of it.
From what they told me, this was a players union decision. So I called a few random players that I still talk to. One of these is a superstar. And he tells me ‘We are f****** hot. We are pissed’. He tells me that the players union, Tony Clark, was getting heat about moving the game out of Georgia. I guess the players union got a hold of Major League Baseball without consulting the players first.
Word has it, there were two or three huge companies that pump in hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship deals to Major League Baseball every single year. They were threatening that if MLB does not leave Georgia, they’re pulling out. And this player told me that each one of these companies are worth over $350 million. So, we’re looking at billions of dollars in money. So, Rob Manfred made the decision without consulting anybody. MLB is out of there.
This had nothing to do with race. This had nothing to do with politics. This had everything to do with money.
DW: So, it was a panic job?
HUFF: It was a panic job. And what makes them livid (players and staff) is now they’re going to have to sit there after every game and answer questions from the media that they don’t know know the answers to! The game is hard enough to have to go hit a 2-0 slider every day and now we have to worry about woke leftists bull**** every day? I’m glad I don’t have to play baseball.
DW: But what are you supposed to do as players in that situation? The game is being moved. There’s nothing you can do. Is there anything these players can do to get their thoughts out there? Are there any suggestions you have for players? Or is it basically shut up, this is the way it’s going to be for the near future?
HUFF: That’s what I asked several players that are current players now. You guys are diehard conservative guys. Maybe even more than me. Why don’t you guys say something? The majority of the league believes in what you guys believe.
And they say “Aubrey. We would do it all day. We don’t give a s*** about our money. It’s guaranteed. They can’t do nothing about it. What are they going to do? Kick us out?
We’re still getting our money. That doesn’t worry us. It’s the target on our back. If I didn’t have kids or family we’d do it in a second. But I’m afraid if I do something, we put a target on my kids’ backs. My wife’s back. And they’re afraid for their safety. That’s where it’s at.
DW: Have you had people come after your family in that way?
HUFF: I get death threats. Not every day. But I’d say weekly, I get a few death threats. And it’s usually from a burner account. You see it and there’s zero followers. Some crazy idiot out of his mom’s basement, so you don’t take those at face value. Every so often, you’ll see an account with 1000 followers or something. And they’ll say, ‘If I ever see you on the street I’m going to punch you in the face.’
Go nuts, pal. If you ever see me in the street you’ll ask for my autograph. That’s what you’ll do, right? These guys are nothing but tough guys behind Twitter keyboards.
DW: Cancel culture is a thing. We’ve heard some talk about boycotting baseball. What are your thoughts on that? Returning the favor if you will?
HUFF: I think we cancel these massive liberal cities like the (San Francisco) Giants. The Dodgers. These California teams. I saw the Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, who I love… he’s always been super sweet to me. He came out and supported leaving Georgia. These guys are just supporting it without really doing the work to look at what’s going on. They’re just following the narrative.
And then you see a team like the Rangers who just packed out their entire stadium. You almost don’t want to see it because I want to see Major League Baseball take a hit for this. But I want to see teams like the Rangers, the Kansas City Royals…southern conservative value teams really thrive you know. Open their stadiums, no masks, watch all this COVID nonsense go down in their area and be the model. Because these are the ‘Neanderthals’ that Joe Biden talked about. If we can open up at least the conservative states and watch them succeed. Watch states like Florida and Texas succeed. How are you going to argue against that?
DW: But it’s not like Florida hasn’t been doing well. They just won’t let you know that. If you have people who are only watching CNN and MSNBC, you would think that Florida is the death center of the United States. And it’s just not the case.
HUFF: Dr. Fauci is already talking about the Rangers. He said ‘we won’t know for three more weeks’. And they said that about spring break last year. They said it about spring break this year. Nothing’s happening. It’s all fear porn. I’m sick of it.
DW: How are the players feeling about having fans in the stands?
HUFF: I got a message from Ian Kennedy (Texas Rangers pitcher). He said it was awesome. Awesome. So these players are young and healthy. This is not going to affect them. 99.8% of people that get this are going to survive. In 2009, there was swine flu. Nobody knew it was going on. And this was mid-season. We just kept chugging forward. Three players around the league got the swine flu. They left for two weeks, went home, came back and kept playing. That was the end of the story.
DW: I had a really hard time diving into baseball last season without fans. Was that hard for you as well?
HUFF: I didn’t watch one regular season game. And I’ve talked to some of these guys. You have no fans in the stands. They just had to just pound 16 cups of coffee and just try and make it happen. They were miserable every day. They honestly didn’t even want to do it. But you’re making $10 million a year so you do it. They just wanted to get the season over with.
DW: Let’s talk a little baseball. The game has changed. Sabermetrics have changed the game. I hate it. It’s either a strikeout, pop fly or homerun. What do you think about the game today?
HUFF: It all started with Adam Dunn. He would walk 200 times, strikeout 250 times or hit a homerun. There were no singles. He would hit .210 with 40 home runs. I couldn’t sleep at night if that was me. And that is the epitome of what these nerds in the front office want.
For me, there is one thing that has made baseball America’s pastime for so long – baseball rewards grinders. Guys with heart. Guys that go out there everyday and give them everything. They may not have the best talent, but they play with their heart and their balls. And we don’t have any players like that (right now). It’s all flair. It’s bat flipping bull****. I’m so glad that I don’t play in this era. It’s disgusting. The old school way of baseball was pure.
I coach my boys Little League. And I’m starting to see kids when they get a hold of a baseball, they’ll stand there and just flip their bat. My team doesn’t do that. I’ll wear them out in practice. I don’t teach my kids that.
DW: You mentioned your kids and how the way the game is played at the highest level may trickle down to the youth level. Are you worried that this is what we’re going to have to deal with for the next 20 years in baseball?
HUFF: I’m worried about team play going out the window. It’s these kids that are growing up in what I call the ‘participation trophy generation.’ That’s where all this started. And now, they’re in the big leagues.
DW: Let’s talk about your World Series celebrations. Do you have any stories? I had friends that lived in San Francisco at the time and they said it was out of control in that city after you guys won.
HUFF: The sh**** part was every time we won a World Series, we were on the road. We clinched in Detroit (2012). Who wants to party in Detroit? And we won in Texas in 2010. I wanted to party in Texas that night. But our owners were so damn cheap that we got on the plane that night and flew back into San Francisco. So we didn’t get in until like 4:30 am. But the next night we did go out as a team. We went to this random shit**** dive bar in the local area. We put out a tweet saying the team’s here. And within an hour, the line was out the door. They had to rope us off. We tore up the town that night.
DW: Giants fans are some of the most loyal fans in baseball.
HUFF: Great fans. We had a great time in San Francisco. I loved that team. Love my teammates. You never get those days back. You can cancel me, but you’ll never take those memories. And you can’t take away those rings.
DW: Do you ever think there’s going to be a reconciliation with the organization?
HUFF: No. No. Even if they asked me to apologize… I would rather stand up for my beliefs and values as a Christian man, who’s raising two badass little boys, then sell out to the cancel culture. Kind of the way Drew Brees had to do. Which I wish he didn’t have to do. But he’s a great guy. He was put in a bad situation. I’m not going to sell out all that I believe in. I’m not going to sell my soul.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.