Baseball Is for Everyone! May It Stay That Way!
This week’s Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game in Atlanta was more than a celebration of baseball—it was a cultural milestone that shows just how far we’ve come.
Only four years ago, this very game was ripped from Atlanta after President Joe Biden pressured Major League Baseball to punish Georgia for passing common-sense election reforms like requiring a photo ID to vote.
The game was moved to Colorado — rewarding a state that led the charge in eliminating most in-person voting as it flipped from red to blue.
It wasn’t the first time the left used sports as a political weapon.
Just nine years ago, the NCAA banned all tournament games from basketball-crazy North Carolina because the state refused to let men into women's restrooms.
And who can forget the 2020 NFL season, when protesting the national anthem became the main story instead of the game on the field?
A Spotlight on Patriotism: Paul Skenes Takes the Mound
When Pittsburgh Pirate Paul Skenes threw the first pitch of the game to Tigers 2nd baseman Gleyber Torres, he became the first pitcher in history to start the All-Star game in his first two seasons.
Skenes might be the best pitcher in baseball, but he’s also a patriot.
He had to be talked out of becoming a military pilot in order to pursue his baseball career.
In that way, he echoes legends like Ted Williams and Ralph Kiner, who paused Hall of Fame careers to fly combat missions in World War II, returning only after America saved the world the Nazis and their allies in Japan.
This week two years ago a just-turned-22 Skenes finally accepted the baseball path, as the Pirates gave him a $9.2 million signing bonus on the spot. At that time, it seemed President Biden’s military was distracted by meeting transgender quotas.
Skenes is one of only four pitchers in history to allow fewer than 2 earned runs per 9 innings in history. Here they are with their last season pitched:
- 1877 Louisville Grays - last season for Jim Deulin, 1.90 career ERA.
- 1910 Cleveland Naps - Addie Joss, 1.89 career ERA.
- 1917 Boston Braves - Ed Walsh, 1.84 career ERA.
- 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates - Paul Skenes, 1.98 career ERA.
For someone like this writer — who spends off-hours calculating the top athletes in baseball and basketball, such as in my recent piece on every 2025 All-Star at — it’s refreshing to focus on true patriots who just happen to be elite athletes.
A Cultural Turning Point for American Sports
This All-Star Game feels like a turning point. . .
A chance to permanently end the decade-long attempt by the left to use sports as a pressure campaign against common-sense values.
They’ve spent years pushing policies that defy what most Americans believe:
- That men shouldn’t be beating up our daughters in women’s sports.
- That voter ID laws are basic safeguards.
- That we shouldn’t let violent gangs and fentanyl pour across our border unchecked.
When Steve Bannon recruited me to run Breitbart Sports he gave me a simple mission, make sure Americans understand how Disney is using ESPN to try to move voters left.
Beyond Baseball: A National Wake-Up Call
This week is about more than baseball. At the time of this writing, this writer is slated to join Fox News Radio as their national guest, wrapping up a run of interviews that began with this great interview with the Founder of Human Events in Illinois this past Saturday.
There, we discussed how other states are rushing to adopt the conservative turnout model that flipped Wisconsin in 2024.
Even Colorado Baseball Fans Lean Right
Ironically, according to Morning Consult: the Atlanta Braves may have the most Republican fan base of any U.S. sports team.
Not far behind? The Colorado Rockies.
That might surprise the strategists who thought they could politicize sports forever. Americans are ready to take back both our pastimes and our politics.
Baseball Belongs to Everyone — Let’s Keep It That Way!
That’s the beauty of baseball.
You can dig deep into stats or just enjoy the crowd, the sunshine, and the smell of ballpark hot dogs. I’ll never forget a friend who once asked me while having a good time at a game, "How many balls is a walk?"
Baseball welcomes everyone — no matter how much you know about the rules.
After the Game, It's Time to Get in the Game
I pulled for Skenes—not just because he’s dominant on the mound, but because of what he represents. A young man who understood that serving his country might be more important than a seven-figure salary. That’s a spirit we should honor.
Now that the All-Star game is over, I hope fans turn their focus to what matters next: registering voters. The left never stops organizing.
While most of us would rather spend time with our families — or catch Skenes’ next start — they’re out registering voters daily, pushing for open borders, tearing down voter ID laws, and trying to destroy women’s sports forever.
Why Voter Registration Starts Now — Not In 2026!
In four months, voters in the state where Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Skenes plays—Pennsylvania — will decide which party controls their Supreme Court: That court will influence congressional maps for years to come. That’s why groups like the Pennsylvania Faith and Freedom Coalition are already registering voters.
If we want sanity to continue returning — to our politics, our ballparks, and our country —we can’t sit in the dugout come election time.
And we certainly can’t sit out the "off-season" and get out of shape talking about the 2024 election while the left fills the voter rolls.
John Pudner is the president and founder of freedomandfamilyaction.com, a nonprofit organization which drives conservative voter turnout through a church-doors-and-postcards strategy. Previously, he's developed and lead faith-based outreach for the Bush 2000 campaign, then refined it as head of www.wisconsinffc.com, a program which helped deliver Wisconsin's decisive Electoral College votes for President Donald Trump in 2024. Mr. Pudner has also run Take Back Our Republic Action. Read more of John Pudner's reports here.