The San Francisco Giants will be celebrating the 10-year reunion of their 2010 World Series team in August, but Aubrey Huff will not be invited.
The Giants told The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly that Huff, who was a first baseman and outfielder on the championship team, will not be welcome due to his social media activity and political views.
“Earlier this month, we reached out to Aubrey Huff to let him know that he will not be included in the upcoming 2010 World Series Championship reunion. Aubrey has made multiple comments on social media that are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization. While we appreciate the many contributions that Aubrey made to the 2010 championship season, we stand by our decision,” the team said in a statement to Baggarly.
Baggarly reached out to Huff for a response. The former first baseman said he was “shocked” and “disappointed.”
“Quite frankly, shocked. Disappointed. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t be having a reunion,” Huff said. “But if they want to stick with their politically correct, progressive bulls–t, that’s fine.”
You can read Huff’s full comments at The Athletic.
Huff batted .290 with 35 doubles, 26 homers, an .891 OPS in the 2010 regular season. He was a big performer in the World Series that year, batting .294 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs. His use of a slump-busting red thong was a major storyline for the Giants that season.
Since his retirement, Huff has become known for his unfiltered political opinions and sometimes vile, crude and inappropriate Twitter remarks. He boasts in his Twitter bio about being politically incorrect and supporting toxic masculinity. He even recently was placed in Twitter jail.
Here was a tweet of his from November that received negative attention:
Getting my boys trained up on how to use a gun in the unlikely event @BernieSanders beats @realDonaldTrump in 2020. In which case knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must. By the way most the head shots were theirs. @NRA @WatchChad #2ndAmendment pic.twitter.com/6xUsS7ciX3
— Aubrey Huff (@aubrey_huff) November 26, 2019
Though Huff’s values are different from the team and many of its fans, and many of them dislike his social media activity, I don’t think this is an appropriate measure. Huff is not committing crimes. He has not become a rapist or murderer or broken laws. And while many of his views may not be pleasing, this is the same attitude and character he had in his playing days, absent the Twitter account.
Giants fans did not have a problem cheering him on as he helped them win the World Series, and they should put the political beliefs and Twitter activity aside here to recognize what he accomplished while wearing the team’s uniform.
49ers fans seem to be fine cheering on Nick Bosa despite his social media activity and would have loved him if he brought them the Super Bowl in February. To disown him 10 years down the line if he became more vocal on Twitter would be disingenuous.
Send a better message to Huff by booing him, not by shunning him, which creates further division in a country that needs more unity.
