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ST. PETERSBURG — Jessica Sanchez doesn't consider herself a die-hard baseball fan.
But on Friday, the 20-year-old University of South Florida student was outside Tropicana Field trying to rally people to address what she feels is a wrong move by Major League Baseball.
As fans streamed into the Trop for Friday's Rays game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sanchez and about 25 other people from around the Tampa Bay area protested in a sectioned-off area on 16th Street.
"Go Rays! Move the Game," they shouted. "Shame on Arizona!"
The group's goal, Sanchez said, was to put the pressure on Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona.
The protest was similar to others that have taken place around the country — including Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco — as part of a campaign by the website movethegame.org.
The rallies are one way people are protesting the state's controversial immigration law, which makes being an illegal immigrant a state crime and requires legal immigrants to carry papers that confirm their legal status.
"They said it's not profiling, but it is," said Ernesto Vargas, 24, of Tampa, the Tampa Bay coordinator for Democracia Ahora, an organization with the mission of increasing Hispanic participation in politics. "This country is based on diversity."
Arizona shouldn't get the benefits that next year's All-Star game will bring, Sanchez said. Major League Baseball shouldn't support the law either, protesters said.
"Just thinking about (the law) gives me goosebumps," Sanchez said. "Hopefully, Arizona will react and change the law. It's ridiculous."
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