Major League Baseball denied that it targeted players who oppose gay rights and put some of the blame on the San Francisco Giants for an embarrassing flap at the team’s Pride Night celebration, a letter from commissioner Rob Manfred revealed on Monday.
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U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., posted the communique he received from Manfred, in which the baseball chief defended MLB against allegations that it was forcing players to celebrate the LGBTQ community.
The Giants held their annual Pride Night on June 12 at Oracle Park, with most players wearing caps that had the team’s iconic interlocking “SF” logo in rainbow colors, instead of its traditional orange and black.
But three Giants that night — pitcher Landen Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker — scrawled a Bible verse, “Gen 9:12-16,” on their caps. “Gen 9:12-16” has long been used by opponents of gay rights as their rallying call.
Following that silent protest, MLB issued a warning to players not to deface their uniforms.
“MLB’s policy must be uniformly enforced regardless of the message in order for it to survive legal challenge, which means prohibiting both the positive message and the negative message,” Manfred wrote in his letter to Hawley.
“By warning the Giants players that they may not include Bible verses on their caps in the future, MLB was not discriminating or chastising those players based on their religious beliefs; rather MLB was enforcing (with only an oral warning) a long-standing, collectively bargained rule that keeps uniforms clean and avoids controversy.”
The commissioner said his office would have issued the same warning against defacing a uniform had the players honored their moms or a deceased friend.
“The rule has been similarly applied to a variety of messages, some as innocuous as messages to a player’s mother or honoring a deceased friend,” Manfred wrote.
In posting the letter from Manfred, Sen. Hawley claimed victoryover Major League Baseball, saying the commissioner “admitted” fault in the office’s handling of the Giants’ Pride Night.
“Commissioner writes to me and admits they were wrong to threaten the Giants players over Bible verses and promises never to fine or discipline these players — or any players for their religious beliefs,” Hawley said in a statement Monday, releasing the letter he received from Manfred.
But in the 1,039-word communiqué from MLB to Hawley, Manfred never used the word “wrong” or admitted to any MLB-issued threat of fines or discipline.
An MLB representative declined to comment Tuesday on Hawley’s characterization of Manfred’s letter.
Manfred seemed to blame that flap on the Giants, saying the club failed to properly inform players they didn’t need to wear the Pride Night rainbow cap. All 26 players could have opted to wear their normal uniforms, as Giants reliever Sam Hentges opted to do, MLB said.
“Unfortunately, this year the Giants communication with players was inadequate and not clear. Some players apparently did not understand that they had the option to wear their normal uniform and elected to add messages to their hats bearing the pride logo as a result,” Manfred wrote.
“The Giants players were allowed to wear the hats with the biblical references for the entire game. After the game had concluded, my office issued a routine oral warning about the uniform policy violation — unfortunately it was issued before we became aware of the Giants’ lapse in communication. The players were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”
A representative for the Giants could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.
The quiet protest by Giants pitchers might have inspired players of the minor league York Revolution last week to refuse wearing uniforms that had rainbow sleeves.
Fewer than nine players agreed to wear those commemorative jerseys and the Revolution forfeited the game, team officials said.
