Major League Baseball Commissioner is now facing a Justice Department investigation after Commissioner Rob Manfred scolded three San Francisco Giants pitchers who wrote Bible references on their rainbow-designed caps during “Pride Night” against the Chicago Cubs.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the Justice Department investigation into whether the players’ civil rights were violated on Friday (June 19) by being singled out for religious expression. MLB says writing on uniforms is forbidden, though it has allowed certain messages in past seasons.
The announcement comes three days after Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley sent Manfred a scathing letter demanding answers to what Hawley charged was flagrant religious discrimination by Manfred and Major League Baseball (MLB). In his letter, Hawley excoriated Manfred for MLB’s apparent double standard after Hawley said MLB allowed, and arguably encouraged, progressive political statements on uniforms and cleats worn by players during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Hawley also noted that MLB has been allowed exemption from antitrust laws, making its burden to serve broad public interest even greater than other corporations or businesses without an exemption.
For the June 12 game at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, Giants players wore special uniforms that included hats displaying rainbow colors to commemorate LGBTQ Pride Month. Three Giants pitchers—J.T. Brubaker, Landon Roupp and Ryan Walker—all played in the game and all displayed written references on their hats to Genesis 9:11-16, which speaks of the rainbow as God’s covenant with humanity to never again destroy the earth with water. A fourth Giants pitcher, Sam Hentges, refused to wear the rainbow cap altogether.
According to Yahoo Sports, citing the passage on uniforms or sportswear has become a popular way for Christian athletes to express dissent during Pride Month celebrations.
In a letter informing Manfred that the Justice Department was referring MLB to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for investigation, Dhillon wrote: “The three players expressed their opposition to MLB’s pro-Pride orthodoxy. The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages.
“Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees’ exercise of religion,” the letter stated.
In his June 16 letter to Manfred, Hawley wrote that “The freedom to live out one’s faith does not end at the ballpark gate. Americans of every creed are entitled to confidence that the institutions of our national pastime will not single out religious expression for punishment while celebrating messages of the league’s own choosing. I trust the league shares that commitment, and I look forward to your prompt and complete response.”
Hawley’s letter drew expected criticism from LGBTQ activists, but also a chorus of praise from around the country.
In addition, Missouri Attorney General Catharine Hanaway wrote Manfred a letter threatening a legal investigation if sufficient answers to her questions weren’t received by June 25, and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his office was launching an investigation into potential religious discrimination by MLB. Missouri is home to two MLB teams—the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals—while Florida is home to the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), wrote on X: “We must protect the first freedom: the free exercise of religion. We call it that because it is intentionally the first listed in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. The idea that baseball—America’s pastime—would censor religious viewpoints is very concerning. The conviction of these players should be applauded, not stamped out.”
Even San Francisco-born comedic actor Rob Schneider, who has become a professing Christian in the last few years, chimed in. He offered on social media and in a television appearance to pay the fines of any MLB player sanctioned for displaying Bible verses on their uniform.
“I have contacted the @SFGiants,” Schneider said in a June 16 post. “These three players are not multi millionaire players. They get the league minimum. Christians cannot be made to wear anything that is against their deeply held religious beliefs.”
As of June 19, MLB had levied no fines against any of the players.
In a related story, according to The Athletic, an independent pro baseball team in York, Pennsylvania, forfeited a June 18 “Pride Night” game—which reportedly would have been the club’s 11th annual Pride game—because players refused to wear rainbow-colored sleeves on their jerseys.
“Unfortunately, several of our players have refused to wear the scheduled Pride Night jersey and the club decided that hosting the [Pride] event is more important than forcing players to wear jerseys they are not comfortable with and playing the game,” the York Revolution said in a statement.
The club reportedly went on with the Pride Night festivities even though no game was played.
