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Rob Manfred gave so many stupid quotes it’s hard to pick the worst one
I’m not sure there’s any other commissioner of the major four American sports who is more universally hated by the fans of their sport more than Major League Baseball’s Rob Manfred. Sure, you can make the argument that he’s just a meat shield for the MLB owners, but he continuously misses the mark when it comes to public statements and just generally being a petty person.
Case in point: Thursday, Manfred was asked about the Oakland A’s imminent move to Las Vegas, and the immediate blowback it received from fans around the nation. Manfred, the wordsmith he is, led off with this:
Rob Manfred on the A’s relocation:
‘The real question is, what is it Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it’s not just John Fisher. The community has to provide support.”
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) June 15, 2023
Yeah man, just not the best thing to say in this situation. Of course, he has to defend the owners because they’re the ones who control his job, but when there’s documentation and evidence of the complete opposite of what Manfred is claiming, he just ends up looking like a dumbass.
Said evidence, via ABC7’s Casey Pratt:
Yeah, caping for the owners and saying the community didn’t provide support is quite frankly hilarious, because support would come … if the owners cared about putting out a winning product. Winning brings fans, and if the owner cared about winning, this situation wouldn’t be a thing.
Manfred CONTINUED, nevertheless, forging on through the wave of mucky bullshit, to seemingly provide a backhanded compliment towards Oakland fans’ Reverse Boycott:
Manfred on the reverse boycott by fans of the Oakland Athletics
“I mean, it was great. It is great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night. That’s a great thing.”
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) June 15, 2023
I’ve never really seen a commissioner that actively hates the fans of the sport he is over. Naturally, this quote came with massive blowback.
This is an objectively shitty and hostile thing to say.
Ownership purposefully deflated fan interest and attendance.
Now you have a city losing its third pro team in a handful of years. They’re clearly hurting and you got out of your way to make THIS comment. What an asshole https://t.co/q5esc3oBij
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) June 15, 2023
Beyond all of the other smugness and derision, the proposed Vegas stadium only holds like 2,000 more fans than what turned out at the Coliseum the other night! https://t.co/v6AdP21mAY
— Kate Feldman (@kateefeldman) June 15, 2023
Again I say, it’s REALLY hard to be the worst commissioner of the four major American sports, yet Manfred is running away with first place like Usain Bolt. What an incredibly tone deaf and soulless thing to say.
And to put the crap icing on this mountainous cake of bullshittery, Manfred had this to say about the MLB’s various Pride Nights:
Manfred, on leaving Pride nights up to teams versus standardizing across the league:
“We have told teams, in terms of actual uniforms, hats, bases that we don’t think putting logos on them is a good idea just because of the desire to protect players:
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) June 15, 2023
Ah, so now you want to protect the players? Protect them from what, exactly? Manfred, once again, drew the ire of multiple people on Twitter.
I find it wildly offensive that Rob Manfred wants to protect homophobes and bigots instead of marginalized folks and closeted MLB players.
I wonder if the rhetoric would be the same from the commissioner if this was a different protected group. https://t.co/RSp8UoOH0k
— Brock McGillis (@brock_mcgillis) June 15, 2023
maybe the players who feel uncomfortable should be forced to feel that discomfort and just sit with it for a while. they probably won’t learn anything from it but there’s a lesson there https://t.co/Cr41jLaW7M
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) June 15, 2023
In a world where commissioners and CEOs of major businesses continue to say the worst things every time they’re in front of a microphone, Rob Manfred might be the best of the worst. Every time he speaks, just the shittiest and vile things come out of his mouth.
The day he finally gets out of baseball will be a good one.
