Indians starter Trevor Bauer has never been one to shy away from voicing his opinion. On Twitter, he’s been a very vocal supporter of President Trump and often engages in political discussions with fans. He’s become a polarizing player as a result, which is not surprising.
Bauer said on Thursday, via Twitter, that he was part of a meeting in which Major League Baseball encouraged players to be vocal and become political leaders. Bauer said, “I find it disingenuous that [the Major League Baseball] commissioner’s office would encourage this when they’ve specifically tried to censor me for sharing my opinion on the matter.”
Responding to a fan who noticed he hadn’t tweeted much during the offseason, Bauer said, “Almost like I wasn’t allowed access to my Twitter account for a while,” adding some “thinking face” emojis.
Bauer often seems to have a bit of a persecution complex even though a majority of players (as well as ownership) have a conservative bent. This has been true for about as long as the sport has been around. For example, Robin Roberts said exactly that -- as quoted in Marvin Miller’s book A Whole Different Ball Game -- in 1965 when the Players Association was searching for a new executive director. MLB likely wasn’t censoring Bauer because it didn’t like his opinions. Rather, it was trying to protect its image.
[Update, 5:35 PM ET]: Changed headline to reflect that MLB, not Trevor Bauer, was encouraging players to be more politically active.
