MLB Pride Night

Major League Baseball (MLB) threatened to punish several Christian ballplayers for the San Francisco Giants on Monday after they inscribed Bible verses on their team’s “pride night” uniforms.

“The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB Chief Communications Officer Pat Courtney said in a statement to media outlets.

The league further claimed that “writing on uniforms violates MLB rules,” according to local media.

The warning came days after pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker all wrote variations of Genesis 9:12-16 on their LGBT-themed hats during the Giants’ Friday matchup against the Chicago Cubs. The Bible verses detail God’s use of a rainbow to symbolize His covenant that He would never again destroy mankind by flooding the Earth.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is demanding answers from Major League Baseball (MLB) after it threatened to punish several players for expressing their Christian faith.

In a Tuesday letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, the Show Me State’s senior senator requested the league account for its recent warning to a group of San Francisco Giants players over their decision to inscribe Bible verses on their “pride night” hats. The players wrote variations of Genesis 9:12-16, which details God’s use of a rainbow to symbolize His covenant that He would never again destroy mankind by flooding the Earth.

Following leftist backlash, MLB released a statement Monday, saying, “The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations.”

Writing to Manfred about the incident, Hawley cited a recent story involving a Washington Nationals executive who was fired after admitting on camera that the team discriminated against one of their Christian players. In doing so, the GOP senator demanded that the commissioner “must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”

Although the league says it was merely responding to a run-of-the-mill rule infraction, its warning to three San Francisco Giants players after a recent game struck many Americans as inherently anti-Christian.

The trio wrote Bible verses onto their caps before the “Pride Night” game during which the team had been instructed to wear rainbow-themed uniforms. 

In response to the move, the MLB handed down its reprimand and, in turn, opened itself up to widespread criticism.

As The Hill reported, Vice President J.D. Vance was among the critics:

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message,” MLB told The New York Times about the incident. “We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s uniform regulations.”

Vance, in a social media post on Tuesday, responded to a Sports Illustrated report about the warning, saying “Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore.”

MLB is one of several major sports leagues that features annual Pride nights and events, encouraging teams to celebrate diversity during Pride Month in June.