Seth Udinski, FISM News
In sports, the COVID-19 vaccine mandates continue to dominated headlines. It appears that now no one is safe from vaccine mandates, even team executives and MLB announcers.
ESPN reported Wednesday that Washington Nationals Vice President Bob Boone has told the team he will resign from his position rather than comply with their mandate that all non-player personnel are required to be vaccinated. He has been with the team since their inauguration in 2005. The Nationals were one of the first MLB teams to require a mandate and all team personnel were required to meet an August 26 deadline. The team defended its position, citing “safety” as the reason its is forcing the jab on all personnel:
As a company, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep one another safe and felt that mandating vaccines was the absolute right thing to do for our employees and our community
73 year-old Boone was a star catcher in the 1970s and 1980s before becoming a manager for the Royals and Reds. He won a World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980 and made the NL Allstar team three times. His son Aaron, another former ballplayer, is the manager for the New York Yankees.
Boone is not the only MLB employee to be negatively affected by protecting his right to make an informed medical decision. MLB Network analysts and announcers Jon Smoltz and Al Leiter will no longer be appearing in studio as they too have rejected MLB Network’s vaccine requirement.