The San Francisco Giants just can't seem to get out of their own way this season.
As of this moment, San Francisco is in fourth place in the NL West at 31-46. To make matters worse, the franchise isn't just getting crushed for its poor play on the diamond. Giants pitchers J.T. Brubaker, Landen Roupp and Ryan Walker made headlines for writing Bible verses on their Pride Night caps on June 12.
“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that he makes to us that, you know, his faithfulness and his mercy,” Roupp told reporters. “That’s just kind of something I believe in, and I stand firm in that, and I’m thankful we live in a country where, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want."
Pat Courtney, the chief communications officer for the MLB, issued a warning to the Giants for their Pride Night antics.
“The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” Courtney told The Athletic.
© John Hefti-Imagn Images
Buster Posey, the president of baseball operations for the Giants, briefly addressed this controversial situation during a press conference on Tuesday.
“I’d like to recognize that the organization has shared its response to Pride Night and I understand there’s strong feelings on this topic. There’s differing perspectives,” Posey said, via Awful Announcing. “Out of respect to everybody involved, it’s not something that I’m going to revisit. I understand that some fans are upset and frustrated and I can promise you that this is something that we have talked about a lot internally and will continue to do so.”
The three-time World Series champion wasn't interested in answering questions though after releasing his opening statement.
Part of the MLB community supports the Giants.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson recently voiced his support for Roupp and the Giants.
“A lot of the hate comes from perceived negativity,” Thompson said. “I think that there’s a perceived negativity with this stuff of like, OK, Landen Roupp wrote a verse on his hat, that means that he’s anti-something. That doesn’t mean that, right? It means that he’s pro-something. So the rainbow means something to him. It means he believes in the Noahic covenant being something that’s special to us as Christians, right? That means that no matter how bad we possibly could be, no matter how much we reject God, that He will never again flood the earth. That’s really cool, that’s really special."
Former All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens also defended the Giants players who wrote on their Pride Night caps.
“We alter our uniforms all the time with numbers or somebody that has passed away,” Clemens said, via OutKick. “I know one time in Boston, Larry Bird retired. I put his hat on. They put 33, silver marker on the hat to honor Larry Bird. I did it for my mom and grandmother. I love it that these guys show the blessings that the Lord has given them to be out there on that field. That’s the way it was for me."
It doesn't sound like this controversy is going to quiet down anytime soon.
