MLB Commissioner Responds to Senator Josh Hawley After Hawley Catches League in Double Standard
The message is clear: Christian players have no right to express their religion.
This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Jordan Conradson
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred responded to Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s congressional investigation on Friday, doubling down on the MLB’s decisions to bar players from wearing Bible verses on their uniforms while allowing pride-themed uniforms to be worn. Manfred further blamed the San Francisco Giants for “inadequate” communication with its players for the recent controversy.
This comes after Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp and relief pitchers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker stood up to the League’s liberal agenda being foisted upon players and fans by writing verses from Genesis on their hats.
Roupp started on the mound with “Gen 9:12-16” written right next to the Giants logo on the special edition pride hat. He later told reporters that he wore the verse to share “God’s covenant and the promise that He makes to us” and “His faithfulness and His mercy.” Genesis 9:12-16 is where God establishes an “everlasting covenant,” symbolized by the rainbow as an eternal sign of His promise never to flood the Earth again.
The players were subsequently threatened by the MLB for violating league rules. “The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” the MLB said in a statement on Monday.
The MLB also faces probes from the Florida Attorney General’s office and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a formal probe into the MLB and issued a subpoena last week.
Hawley opened a Congressional investigation on Tuesday, demanding documents from MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred following the incident.
“MLB has said this is a content-neutral policy and that MLB ‘respect[s] players’ right to free expression.’ But this is dubious, given that MLB is openly promoting a political viewpoint and possibly compelling adherence to that viewpoint,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Manfred.
“The league’s claim that it merely forbids ‘writing of any kind’ on its uniforms does not survive a cursory review of the league’s recent history. In 2020, MLB itself turned its uniforms and its fields into a billboard for political and social messages. It created jersey patches reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘United for Change.’ It authorized ‘BLM’ to be stenciled onto pitching mounds. And it suspended its own equipment rules so that players could display progressive political slogans on their cleats,” the letter continued.
“The league went beyond tolerating speech — it designed speech, promoted speech, and shoehorned social and political messages into the game broadcast to millions of Americans. Yet when three players added a handful of characters citing the Book of Genesis to their caps, the league reached for its rulebook.”
Manfred responded to Hawley in a letter dated Friday, June 19, denying that it discriminated against Christian players and claiming that the league policy is “enforced without regard to the substance of the messaging.”
“The rationale for the policy is that the league does not desire for its players to become messengers for political or social issues while in uniform playing baseball games because many messages have the potential to offend some segment of our fanbase - even if that was not the intent of the player,” Manfred claimed, despite the obvious double standard for liberal messages which are promoted by the league.
“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.”
“Clubs at their discretion are permitted to include other celebratory or commemorative days in their schedules,” Manfred said, pointing to clubs being allowed to “host faith/religious-related games (including four Clubs that have scheduled three such games this year), games celebrating different ethnicities or nationalities that are part of their communities (including, for example, games celebrating Black, Hispanic, Asian, European, Caribbean, and Canadian heritage), games honoring first responders, and games honoring local military veterans.”
But the MLB “does not permit Clubs or players to utilize special uniforms/equipment for such games, or alter the uniform or equipment,” he writes. Only pro-LGBTQ uniforms are permitted in the MLB.
Manfred explained that the MLB adopted a policy in 2023 “of not permitting Clubs to utilize special uniforms, hats or equipment in their celebration days except under very narrow circumstances (patches honoring deceased members of the baseball community, commemorating baseball milestones, and things of that nature).” However, the policy exempted the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, citing the large LGBTQ communities in those cities.
The exemption still requires “that no player or uniformed staff would be required to wear them, and that the team would speak to the players to make sure they were comfortable with the apparel,” Manfred wrote.
Manfred then blamed the Giants organization and the players for a lapse in communication, writing, "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."
“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,” Manfred added.
He emphasized that no player will be forced to wear gay pride paraphernalia, but that it remains “crucial” for the MLB to prevent players from voluntarily wearing Bible verses on their uniforms under its policy, which bars messages on uniforms-- unless, of course, the San Francisco Giants or Los Angeles Dodgers want to wear pride uniforms.
“In closing, MLB believes in the right of our players and fans to express their religious beliefs, and at the same time supports the communities in this country that are fans of our Clubs, including the LGBTQ community. We believe that a policy permitting our Clubs to celebrate or honor segments of its fanbase, yet does not require players or other on-field personnel to directly participate in the celebration in ways that make them uncomfortable, strikes the right balance. We also believe that it is crucial to maintain our policy prohibiting, uniform alterations of any type no matter how positive to avoid the problems associated with censoring some message but not others,” Manfred concludes.
The message is clear: Christian players have no right to express their religion and will be penalized if they alter their uniforms with Bible verses, but Pride Night is exempt from MLB rules.
However, Hawley claimed victory, claiming that Manfred “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.”
Manfred said the players involved in the Giants’ Pride Night controversy “were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be,” but he didn’t admit anything of the sort. In fact, he doubled down on the “routine oral warning about the uniform policy violation” and defended the league’s rules being wielded against religious beliefs, while exempting a secular political cause.
Can we expect the Republicans to actually do something about Major League Baseball’s religious bias, favoring secular pride displays over Christianity? Or will they continue selling us fake wins and allow Christians to be discriminated against?
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How about keeping religion and politics out of sports completely. The inclusion of these is the reason I have stopped watching/attending.