Senator Josh Hawley Expresses 'Grave Concern' About MLB's Pride Night Hats

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a dramatic letter to the Major League Baseball commissioner after three players were warned for writing Bible verses on their Pride Night hats. 

“I write with grave concern over your reported decision to issue a formal warning to three Major League Baseball (MLB) players for publicly expressing their Christian faith,” Hawley, 46, wrote to commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, June 16. “This follows a high-profile undercover investigation that revealed at least one MLB team discriminated against a player based on his Catholic faith. You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”

Last week, three San Francisco Giants pitchers — Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker and Ryan Walker — wrote a variation of verse Genesis 9: 12-16 on their Pride Night hats, which establishes a rainbow as the permanent sign of his covenant with Noah and all living creatures on Earth.

A fourth Giants pitcher, Sam Hentges, refused to wear the hat altogether. 

“Your organization has reportedly issued warnings to these players,” Hawley said. “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.”

He continued, “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.”

Hawley argued that it was his mission to “expose” the league’s alleged “anti-Christian bigotry.”

“The freedom to live out one’s faith does not end at the ballpark gate,” he wrote. “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.” 

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A Major League Baseball spokesperson issued a statement on Tuesday, clarifying that their message to the Giants players had “absolutely nothing to do” with what they had written on their hats specifically. 

“We respect players’ right to free expression,” the league said. “We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad,’ ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom’ and names of family members.”

None of the Giants players were fined or subjected to any disciplinary action.