Manfred Blames Giants for 3-Player Pride Night Flap as MLB Defends Bible-Verse Warning
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Jun 24
Manfred Blames Giants for 3-Player Pride Night Flap as MLB Defends Bible-Verse Warning
3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Jun 24
Summary
A 1,039-word letter from Rob Manfred said MLB gave Giants players only a routine oral warning after three pitchers wrote “Gen 9:12-16” on Pride Night caps, and that none were fined or will be disciplined.
Manfred argued the league was enforcing a long-standing uniform rule barring added messages of any kind, saying that standard must apply equally to pro-LGBTQ+ and opposing messages to withstand legal challenge.
The commissioner put responsibility on the Giants, saying the club failed to clearly tell players they could skip the rainbow cap and wear the standard uniform instead; MLB said all 26 players had that option.
Sen. Josh Hawley cast the letter as an admission MLB was wrong to threaten players over religious beliefs, but Manfred did not use that language, and an MLB representative declined to endorse Hawley’s characterization.
Buster Posey, now the Giants’ president of baseball operations, refused to revisit the June 12 dispute, which has widened beyond San Francisco after the York Revolution forfeited a game when fewer than nine players agreed to wear rainbow-sleeved jerseys.