Major League Baseball Still Faces Scrutiny Despite Pride Night Bible Verse Backdown
The Giants didn't inform players they weren't obligated to wear the hats.
Federal and state scrutiny into Major League Baseball’s treatment of players who wrote a biblical reference on their Pride Night uniform caps may yet go into extra innings, despite Commissioner Rob Manfred backing down.
The executive made news Monday with the release of a June 19 letter to Republican Senator Josh Hawley saying the MLB issued the players only an oral warning, adding, “The players were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”
The episode began when three San Francisco Giants pitchers — starter Landen Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker — wrote “Genesis 9:12-16” on their special rainbow caps during the June 12 Pride Night match against the Chicago Cubs. Those verses describe God’s design of the rainbow as a covenant sign after the flood.
After the game, MLB’s office gave the trio an oral warning citing a collectively bargained uniform policy prohibiting players from writing, attaching, or displaying any messages on apparel or equipment.
Mr. Hawley fired off a June 16 letter demanding answers, alleging “a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.” He set a June 19 deadline for responses to five categories of requests, including the full text of the applicable uniform rule, a five-year disciplinary history under that rule, and any policies governing consequences for players who decline to wear Pride Night apparel.
The Missouri senator — who sits on the Judiciary Committee — reminded the commissioner of baseball’s “sweeping, judicially manufactured” federal antitrust exemption, saying, “A league that benefits from such an extraordinary dispensation owes the public a corresponding measure of accountability, and it invites the closest scrutiny when it appears to wield its market power to punish Americans for their beliefs.”
Mr. Manfred explained that in 2023, MLB stopped permitting clubs to use special uniforms, hats, or equipment during celebration days, with narrow exceptions. The Dodgers and Giants had been granted a grandfather exception because of the size of Los Angeles’ and San Francisco’s LGBTQ communities — but under that exception, no player or uniformed staff member can be required to wear the Pride Night apparel.
“Unfortunately, this year the Giants’ communication with players was inadequate and not clear,” Mr. Manfred wrote. “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.” He said MLB issued the warning before knowing that.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier declared Tuesday the Sunshine State will continue investigating the matter. “MLB thinks it can sweep this under the rug with a non-apology. Any sign of Christian viewpoint discrimination will be rooted out,” said Mr. Uthmeier, who is seeking a full term in November’s election.
And Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, has referred the league’s conduct to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for further review. She called MLB’s actions “Swing and a miss!”
Ms. Dhillon said in a letter to Mr. Manfred last week that allowing players to wear Black Lives Matter patches “for one game only” while warning players about a one-time Bible verse inscription “calls MLB’s true motives into question and raises serious concerns about MLB’s compliance with Title VII” of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids religious discrimination in the workplace.
A state probe in Missouri may also continue. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway had added legal weight to the pressure in her own June 17 letter to Mr. Manfred, declaring the state “will not tolerate any threat to punish a player for exercising his sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.”
She cited the Supreme Court’s 8-1 2015 decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, in which the court held Title VII prohibits an employer from refusing to accommodate an employee’s religious practice — even when the employer has not received an explicit accommodation request — if religion was a motivating factor in the employment decision. Ms. Hanaway argued the ruling makes clear employers cannot impose uniform requirements that unnecessarily burden employees’ sincere religious observances. She also cited Missouri’s parallel statute that bans religious discrimination in employment.
She demanded written confirmation that MLB would not discipline any player who declined to wear Pride Month paraphernalia or inscribed Bible verses on a Pride Night hat, warning that failure to respond could prompt a state investigation into whether MLB is violating players’ religious-liberty rights in Missouri.
The Washington Star has contacted Ms. Hanaway’s office and Major League Baseball to determine whether the commissioner sent a letter to the state official similar to that he sent Mr. Hawley.
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