I’d like to thank MLB for exercising its longtime power for turning molehills into mountains, and giving the no-life
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) June 16, 2026
Right something else to scream about. Let them wear what they want. https://t.co/kTrfD5xLiX
As The Guardian explained
Major League Baseball has issued a statement critical of players who wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night hats after an incident at a San Francisco Giants game last week.
MLB celebrates Pride month during June and most teams choose a home game to acknowledge the LGBTQ community and its baseball fans. The Giants, who are based in a city with a large LGBTQ population, often make an extra effort.
However, those efforts often clash with the league’s players, many of whom come from conservative, religious backgrounds. During Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Giants pitchers Landen Roupp and JT Brubaker wrote Bible verses on their Pride caps. Another Giants pitcher, Sam Hentges, chose not to wear the cap at all.
On Monday, MLB issued a statement on the subject. “The
writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we
have warned the players about future violations,” said MLB chief communications
officer Pat Courtney.
Roupp wrote “Gen 9:12-16” on his cap. The verse contains a reference to a rainbow, one of the symbols of Pride. The verse reads in part: “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the Earth.”
Many- disproportionately so- major league players do come from conservative, religious backgrounds. However, one does not have to have been raised in a conservative and Christian milieu to realize that Major League Baseball is wrong. Ironically, right-wing Rob Schneider, who supports the players, doesn't seem to understand this. "Christians," he tweeted, "cannot be made to wear anything that is against their deeply held religious beliefs" and in another tweet, promised to pay any fines issued and maintained "MLB is ANTI-CHRISTIAN".
The league has since issued a warning to the three pitchers and the Giants' organization has released a cryptic statement. Republican senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has blasted an "apparent pattern o fdiscriminating against Christians while promoting left-wing ideologies."
As Pierce recognizes, this does give "the Right something else to scream about." And that is supposed anti-Christian bias which, given the content of Genesis 9:12-16, is ironic because the passage in question is theistic, not specifically Christian. Genesis is the first chapter of the Old Testament and is generally believed to have been authored by Moses, a Jew. It is the first of the first five books of The Bible, known as the Pentateuch. Jews, as well as Christians, and Muslims (sort of) are called upon to believe in the Old Testament. Genesis 9:12-16 reads
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
But this chain of events was not started by the three players. They did not arbitrarily cite the passage. Major League Baseball sponsors a Pride month- a political act- during the month of June. In turn, the Giants organization decides how to celebrate it- a political act. In response, the players promoted a passage from Scripture which- again ironically- does not pertain in any way to sexual or gender orientation or practice. Pride month advocacy is imposed upon all of the players, and three responded respectfully.
Management/ownership of each baseball team decides for itself how to promote Pride month. Only one, the Texas Rangers, does nothing, similar to what each team does for Heterosexual Month. (No, that does not exist.) That's fine; politics has always been a part of sports and any effort to eliminate it probably would be futile and probably mistaken.
One need not be a card-carrying member, nor be sympathetic to, the Christian right to want to draw attention to the ninth chapter of Genesis. Nor does a professional athlete have to be partial to that specific passage to be pleased that his employer is boosting Pride Month. Major League Baseball decided to go all in on the cause and and shouldn't be surprised if a few individuals among its 780 players have a mind of their own.
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